footsteps Nevertheless we beseech Your Majesty on the other hand to consider that since every one must render an account of his Actions to God we have just cause to be concerned for our Salvation and to take care that we do nothing contrary to our Conscience Which was the reason also we were in good hopes that having given Audience to our Divines Your Majesty would have moderated the Decree But since now you refer us to the Council where you say matters shall be handled according to the holy Scriptures we admit of the condition and that we may not seem to be contentious or obstinate we are not against it but that the Bishop may by men of his own Order officiate in some of our Churches according to the formulary you have prescribed We shall transact with him about the Churches and shall neither offer any disturbance nor hinder the Citizens from repairing to them but it shall be free to every one to follow what Religion they please and that seemeth rightest to them Yet still on this condition that we on the other hand may be allowed some Churches wherein the Word of God may be purely taught and the Sacraments administred as is fitting and in the vulgar Tongue We shall also take care that the People live orderly and that nothing be done undecently Besides we shall command Holy days and Fast days to be observed and that no Flesh be eaten on days prohibited nor shall we suffer that in Sermons or any other way the least cause of Offence be given And because this Doctrine hath now for many years taken such deep rooting in men's Minds that without wounding their Consciences it cannot be so suddenly taken away And then Sir since in the manner we have declared Your Majesties Decree will be received amongst us we beseech Your Majesty from the very bottom of our Hearts that you would be pleased to condescend to our humble Supplications and suffer us to enjoy our Religion until the sitting of the Council This will be an Office most acceptable to God and most conducible to the Peace of our City and whole Province When the Emperour had heard this Letter and also what James Sturmey after his eloquent way had more largely said to the same purpose and by the mouth of Selden made ample protestations of his affection and good intentions towards Germany at length after a long Parly he thus dismisses them that they should accord with their Bishop but on this condition That if they did not agree they should stand to his Arbitration When the Emperour was come into the Low Countries he kept the Duke of Saxony with him but the Landgrave he sent to Oudenard a Town of Flanders And upon the borders of Brabant he dismissed all the Forces that he had brought thither from Ausburg We mentioned before that the States of the Empire had referred it to the Emperour to constitute the Judicature of the Imperial Chamber The first day of October then according as it had been enacted it began and three Advocates were turned out upon suspicion of Lutheranism and all the rest are cautioned amongst other things that they continue in the Doctrine of the Catholick Church or be turned out of place There Henry Duke of Brunswick commenced a suit against the confederate Protestants for the past War wherein he was overthrown He had conditioned nay and sworn too when he was let go out of Prison that he would not attempt any such thing but he fell off from that Agreement and not only he but also the Elector of Mentz the Master of Prussia the Counts of Nassaw and Solmes brought their Actions against the Landgrave The Men of Constance lately outlawed being reduced to great streights and seeing no way how to save themselves fly to the last refuge and surrender themselves for ever to the House of Austria King Ferdinand then takes them into his Protection and presently sent a Noble Man to be their Governour who on the fifteenth of October proposed these Conditions unto them That from henceforth they acknowledge King Ferdinand and his Heirs for their lawful Lords that they perform all Fealty and Obedience unto them at no time fall-off from their Allegiance and not enter into any League with others That they absolutely obey all Decrees to be made by King Ferdinand and his Governours concerning Religion and all things else That they faithfully and truly serve King Ferdinand and his Heirs and obey his Commands as the rest of his Subjects do and then they swear to these Conditions Two days after the Governour calls a Council and demands of them what Money they had in their Treasury and that an Inventory be made of all their Artillery and Ammunition He also commands that no Towns-man wear a long Sword that none presume to come near the Works of the Town nor the Guard-house that the Names of those who during the War gave the City intelligence of their danger be given in that the Goods of those who are absent and of those who have removed to other places be inventoried and detained That all publick Writings be produced and some who are skilful in the Affair give an account what every one of them concerns Afterwards all the Ministers of the Churches are commanded to leave the Town within eight days In this Month Augustus Brother to Maurice Duke of Saxony Brother to Maurice Duke of Saxony married the Lady Ann Daughter to Christian King of Denmark It was agreed upon in the Contract of Marriage that Duke Maurice should settle no Estate of Inheritance upon him out of the Lands of Duke Frederick but out of his own Paternal Inheritance At that time there was a great Insurrection through Guienne about the gabel of Salt and the Customs The chief City of the Country is Bourdeaux a large and populous Sea-port Town which sometimes belonged to the English They were the very chief in the Rebellion and killed the King's Governour This being then a thing of most dangerous consequence the French King sent thither under the Command of the Constable and Duke of Aumale one and thirty Companies of Foot of which one and twenty were Germans and a small Body of Horse The Bourdeaux-men hearing of this make their Application to the Constable offering him free entry into their Town with his Soldiers but pray him not to suffer the Germans to enter His answer was That they were not to give Rules to him that the Germans were in the King's Service as well as the rest that he would do what he thought fit and if they did not open the Gates he had Keys to unlock them So then he entred the Town October the nineteenth and having drawn up his Men in several Posts he first commands the Citizens to bring out all their Arms and carry them to the Castle which took up two days time The third day they began to enquire from house
be propagated to posterity It is manifest then that Covetousness and desire of Lucre is not to be Objected to us when besides Trouble and Dangers there comes nothing to our share and our Adversaries in the mean time without any regard to the Pope whom they usually magnifie so much make what booty they please of the Church Revenues and besides bestow great Rewards and Gifts upon some that they may obstinately Persecute the true Religion That we also submit the rest of Church-Possessions to the Determination of a Council we hope will be sufficient to justifie us in the Opinions of all Good Men. But that it should be imputed to us by our Adversaries That we do but dissemble and play the Hypocrites as often as we speak of Reconciliation and as if that were only done that we may put a stop to the Emperor's Designs pervert the matters and hinder a lawful Trial as a thing that does very much trouble and afflict us for what can be more wicked and base than to make a blind pretext of Piety and Religion We therefore desire seeing that is a very heinous Accusation that the Emperor would patiently and attentively examine those things which we are to say in our own defence When Ten Years ago our Enemies made a great complaint to the Emperor in the Diet of Ausburg concerning our Churches and that we were enjoined to give an account of our Doctrine Religion and Ceremonies we acted nothing craftily nor in hugger-mugger but in plain Terms gave an open profession of our Doctrine that all might be convinced that it agreed with the Doctrines of the Apostles and we make no doubt but that was a means of bringing many to embrace our Religion when they saw that we taught nothing contrary to the From of the Ancient Church but only shewed and detected the Errors which had slipp'd into the Church For it cannot be denied but that many and grievous Errors had crope in the Doctrine of Repentance was frigid and perplexed not a word preached of Grace received by Christ and the Remission of Sins the Lord's Supper was in a horrid manner and wholly corrupted and contaminated by the Popish Mass for it is known that private Mass is but a new thing introduced partly through Ignorance and partly out of Covetousness because Marriage was denied to Priests there was nothing to be heard but Instances of the foulest Incontinence the Doctrine of the Keys and Power of the Church was altogether slighted and the Pope arrogated all that Power to himself only for the Confirmation of his own Dominion and Rule and loaded the minds of Men with almost infinite numbers of Precepts and Laws which learned and judicious Men often bewailed but no care was had of setting able Men over the Churches What our Opinion was of those many and necessary matters we declared before the Emperor at Ausburg and Books on that Subject written by Men of our Profession are publickly extant Many learned Men also of other Nations confess That they had the Knowledge of the true Doctrine from these Books so that then we shun not the Light. And when a Reconciliation was attempted at Ausburg we acted not Fraudulently nor Craftily but shewed our selves to be desirous of agreement and that if our Adversaries would have received the Principal Doctrines we should not have been very scrupulous nor contentious about indifferent Things And though the Ways then propos'd by us were moderate yet our Treatment was neither too Friendly nor Impartial Nay would to God the Emperor knew how our Adversaries that were Commissionated then behaved themselves for they often protested in the beginning of all Treaties that they would not depart a Hairs breadth from their own Opinion and Doctrine but that all they did was only to bring us over to their Judgment Wherefore they began to speak of Doctrines of the Invocation of Saints of Private Mass and Satisfaction affirming that there was no Error in them That was not then a Conference wherein the Truth was sifted by solid Arguments and testimonies of Scripture but it was a kind of haughty and pompous Confirmation of manifest Errors And because we did not then acquiesce to them they now construe that as if we had only made a shew of Treating about Accommodation not with any real and sincere design of Success but only to shuffle with the Emperor and elude a Trial For so they understand the word Reconciliation as if we should abandon the Truth and approve their Cause But after the Conference at Ausburg these things were no more debated which nevertheless was not our fault for it is our chief desire that good and learned Men may conferr of all these matters and freely give their Judgment concerning them Wherefore we pray all Men not to give credit to this their Accusation for if we shunned the Light or were ashamed of our Cause we might easily forsake it and ingratiate our selves with them but seeing we are convinced that of all Causes this is the most pious and necessary therefore we undergo all this Labour submit to all Losses and Dangers and profess the Doctrine of Christ which we desire to retain and propagate longing for a Reformation of the Church with Peace and Concord and what a Year since we protested at Francfort we now also profess that we will not decline a Conference nor treaty of Reconciliation Which that no Man may be mistaken we so understand that following the Scripture as our Guide Truth may be sought after Error abolished and true Doctrine take place in Churches For otherwise all Labour and Pains will be in vain Christ the Son of God made known to us his Will and Doctrine from the Bosom of the Father He is to be heard and only to acknowledged for our Judge Now all the Emperor's Edicts and Proclamations sufficiently show also that this Affair ought to be orderly and lawfully debated but we do not think that our Adversaries method of proceeding at the Diet of Ausburg has been made known unto him But now what our mind is and upon what Grounds we proceed may be seen in the publick and printed Confession of our Faith which we are certain does agree with Holy Scripture and therefore we cannot forsake it Besides this Doctrine which is the chief and Foundation of all the rest there are some other mean and as it were indifferent things as concerning Ceremonies Ordination of Priests Jurisdiction Visiters Church-Goods matrimonial Causes c. all Controversies as to these may in our Judgment be reconciled if first there were an Agreement about those necessary Points For so long as our Adversaries impugn the chief Matters and go on in a way of Cruelty the difference cannot be removed How in that some endeavour to perswade the Emperor that our Doctrine is blended with many Heresies and Errors they do us an Injury for if they have any thing of that nature to Object unto us they may do it publickly and
only we but all those also who profess the Reformed Religion are in danger and that the great Design in hand is wholly to re-establish Popery Let all men judge then of the fairness of their Proceedings when in the late Diet at Ratisbonne they endeavoured to perswade and solemnly averred that they would use only lawful and peaceful Remedies for healing the breaches of Religion Lately said the Landgrave he told me at Spire That he was not engaged in any League with the Pope the same also said Granvell This then is that Fatherly Affection that Zeal for and Love of Peace whereof they so much brag and so often Was ever the like heard that they should endeavour to perswade Princes of one thing and in the mean time resolve the quite contrary We are sensible enough of the Duty of the Princes to the Emperour and what on the other hand he is engaged to perform as we stand obliged to him so is he mutually to us Now that he Proscribes and Outlaws us without a fair hearing and endeavours to turn us out of all he therein dissolves the Obligation in Law whereby the Lord or Superiour is mutually bound to his Tenant or Vassal That he objects to us the Crime of Rebellion it is a meer sham also and he himself knows that he does us wrong in that For not long since said the Landgrave he gave me Thanks at Spire that I had used my utmost diligence to compose the Differences about Religion Now whereas he says that I prepared for War and exacted Money of some States I do not indeed deny it and weighty reasons I had too for making Preparations But it is publickly known that by the mediation of Louis the Elector Palatine and of Richard Archbishop of Traves that whole matter was husht nay he himself acquainted me by his Letters that though he had been highly displeased with me for what I had done yet because I had laid down Arms he required no more besides when sixteen years ago he spoke to me of the same Affair at Ausbourg I justified my self so well in presence of King Ferdinand Frederick Prince Palatine and some others that he was satisfied therewith he cannot then make that any part of his present quarrel That I assisted Ulrick Duke of Wirtemberg at the intercession of the Duke of Saxony and George Archbishop of Mentz that matter was also taken up and I received again into favour which transaction he himself ratified and afterward at Ratisbonne fully pardoned me upon his Royal Word He now also speaks of the War of Brunswick but the cause of that we made manifest by a publick Declaration and two years since gave a fuller account of the same in a most frequent Diet of the Empire where he was present Duke Henry did indeed answer then but the Emperour refused to hear our Replies Now the reason why he did not bring the Tryal to a full issue and with the Advice of the rest of the Princes give Sentence therein at that time was forsooth because demanding then Supplies against the French and Turks he purposely put a stop to the Suit and ordered a Sequestration wherein we also condescended to him at Wormes though we were not obliged and it was agreed on both hands that Frederick Prince Palatine and his Cousin John Prince Palatine of Simmeren should hold and govern the Province which we had taken until the Cause should be brought to a final decision according to Law this being done he past his Word to us that the Duke of Brunswick should likewise comply and by Letters strictly enjoyned him to do so but he slighting the Orders raised War against us and therein was made Prisoner as appears by a Declaration published by me and Duke Maurice In this War then we did nothing undutifully nothing contrary to Law and appeal to impartial Judgment But from that very thing it will easily appear what his Intentions are as to our Religion For though Duke Henry most sawcily despised his Orders and when he heard of the Sequestration reviled him in very reproachful Language yet because he is an implacable Enemy to our Religion he was never called to any Account for it Where he saith That we have brought some under subjection to us it is far otherwise and has been answered by us several times before But that may be truly said of him who hath reduced some Provinces and Bishopricks of the Empire under his Jurisdiction and against this War hath had in many places Meetings of Nobles that he might to our destruction engage them to himself This we acknowledge indeed That we have received some into our Protection upon account that if they should incur any danger for professing the Gospel we might stand by and defend them and that we look upon to be our duty since God commands us to help the afflicted Now for many Years past and at this time especially none stand more in need of Help and Protection than they who are reckoned Lutherans In other things that related not to Religion we never gave them any Countenance but always exhorted them to give the Magistrate his due He objects to us also That we disswaded others from repairing to the Diet but that is very impertinent since on the first of April last we sent Orders to our Deputies who met at Wormes when he was going to Ratisbonne That waving all other Business they should repair to that Diet and that we either came in Person or sent our Deputies to all the other Diets of the Empire What he saith of the Imperial Chamber and the interruption of Justice hath been many times refuted already He moreover brings an Instance of the Heathen Magistrates to shew That it is not lawful to resist him Whereas we have not only done our Duty but more also than either we ought or our Forefathers were accustomed to do to our own great loss and prejudice and that upon that account he hath not the least cause of complaint it will appear by what shall be said hereafter A certain Embassadour lately sent to him from the French King hapned occasionally to speak of this War telling him That he undertook a Matter of very great concern That he would do well to consider with himself how powerful Germany was and how dangerous the Attempt That if one or two perhaps had offended a Course might be taken to accommodate the Matter without a War. Whereunto he is said to have made this Answer That there was no need of an Accommodation That he would subdue Germany or put all to the risque for that the Strength thereof was not so very great that he needed to be afraid of it That it was now above twenty years since he had laid down his Measures for accomplishing that Design That in several Wars they had given him frequent Supplies and lately too against the King his own Master That they had been at great Charges in several Diets That they had lost
his presence That generally all his Friends had advised him to appeal from him to the Pope That he would not indeed have done it of his own accord as not thinking it to be very necessary but that he could not but respect their Admonitions and the rather that he beleived Duke Frederick inclined more to have that Appeal made than that he should rashly and unadvisedly make any Retractation The Appeal was conceived in Words much to this effect That the Question about Indulgences which had been variously handled by many was never clearly determined and that about such dubious Questions it was lawful especially for Divines to dispute that he had also done so at that time when some Preachers not only Wrote and Taught rashly and unadvifedly but also used strange ways and Tricks to draw Money from the People and that he did it not as affirming any thing positively but only that he might discover the Truth that he had in like manner submitted the whole Debate to the Determination of the Learned and also of Pope Leo but that these Men had devised many Calumnies against him abused him grievously to the Pope and at length prevailed so far that the Cause was committed to the Bishop of Ascoli and Silvester Prierias that by them he had been cited to appear at Rome but that because both of them were suspected and one of them unfit to judge in such a Matter Again because no Man doubted of the unavoidable Danger he would have been exposed to if he had gone to Rome and that he had been commanded by his own Magistrate not to go Upon these Considerations and in such an Apprehension also which might affect the Stoutest and most resolute Man he had prayed Frederick Elector of Saxony That he would procure his Cause to be Tryed by some fit and competent Persons in a Place secure from Violence in Germany that so the Pope had referr'd the whole Matter to his Legate Cardinal Cajetane which doubtless was brought about by the Instigation of his Adversaries who knew the Mind and Intentions of the Cardinal And though the Legate himself might have justly been Suspected yet he had obeyed That the Cardinal had at first Meeting commanded him instantly to retract what he had written to which he then made Answer That he would give an account of what he had done either in a Personal Disputation or by Writing and refer the whole Matter not only to Universities but also to the Decision of the Church of Rome but that the Legate being wrought upon by none of these Things had still enjoyned him a Retractation and when he could not extort it had threatned severe Punishments both to him and others also that were of his Opinion That since then he found himself lyable to such unjust Prejudications he Appealed from the Pope not rightly informed in the Cause to the Pope to be better informed and that he publickly protested Now that Decretal of Pope Clement which hath been mentioned is extant in that Part of the Canon-Law which they call the Extravagants There Pope Clement reduces that Time they call the Jubilee from an hundred Years as it was appointed by Boniface VIII to fifty and speaking of the Blessing of our Saviour Christ affirms That one Drop of the Blood of Christ was sufficient for the Redemption of all Mankind but that seeing he shed so much Blood that there was no sound Part left in his Body nothing more Lamentable to be seen he had left all that was over and above as a vast Treasure for the use of the Church and commanded S. Peter who keeps the Keys of Heaven's Gates and after him his Successors to distribute that Treasure like good Stewards amongst Men who were truly Penitent and confessed their Sins pardoning the Temporal Punishment that was due unto them for their Trespasses Besides he says That the Merits of the Virgin Mary and all the Saints were put into the same Treasure so that there was an inexhaustible Stock for Indulgences This was the Decretal then upon which Cajetane grounded the Efficacy and Validity of Indulgences But Luther affirmed That there was nothing committed to S. Peter and his Successours but the Keys and Ministry of the Word whereby Christ impowers them to declare to Penitent Believers who trust in him the Remission of their Sins that that was the true and genuine Sense of the Scripture That if that was the Meaning of Pope Clement's Decretal he liked it but if not he could not approve the same That what moreover it said of the Merits of Saints was wholly repugnant to Scripture for that the best of Men were so far from doing more that they could not do what they ought and that we were not saved by their Merits but only by the Mercy of God since it ought to be our daily Prayer That God would pardon our Sins and Trespasses and not enter into Judgment with us lest we should be condemned As to what Cajetane alledged of the Pope's Power the Case is this It was decreed in the fourth and fifth Sessions of the Council of Constance That the Pope himself should be subject to the Decrees of a Council The same was also renewed and again Decreed in the third and eighteenth Sessions of the Council of Basil But Eugenius IV refusing to go to that of Basil though he had been often warned and cited to come declared it null and appointed another to meet at Ferrara whither also came John Paleologue the last Emperour of the Greeks save one with Joseph Patriarch of Constantinople and a great many Bishops and that was in the Year 1438. From Ferrara afterwards they all removed to Florence and there a Decree past with consent of the Greeks That the Church of Rome was the Chief of all Churches and the Pope of Rome the Successor of Peter the Prince of the Apostles the true Vicar of Christ the Head of the Universal Church the Father and Teacher of all Christians and that full Power was given to him from Christ of Feeding and Governing the Catholick Church This Decree Cajetane now insisted upon when he preferred the Pope before a Council Nay and six Years before also when he was not as yet Cardinal but only General of the Dominicans he made a Speech in the Second Session of the Council of Lateran of which more hereafter and having spoken many things against some Cardinals who had made a Separation he had a glance by the by at the Councils of Constance and Basil because the Fathers at that time had taken upon them Power and Authority over the Pope that therefore it was well done by Eugenius when he curbed that Faction and suffered not his Power to be diminished Pope Julius II in whose Favour this Speech was made commanded it afterwards to be entred amongst the Acts and Records of the Council though Cajetane obtained not the Cardinals Cap before the Pontificat of Pope Leo. Gerson whom
he had to do nor how to carry himself that he was constantly urged to retract his Writings that if that could any way contribute to the Advantage and Dignity of the Church of Rome he would not refuse to do so but that there were a great many ingenious and learned Men in Germany who could rightly judge of the whole Controversie so that though he should retract yet it would redound more to the Disgrace and Detriment than to the Dignity of the Church of Rome That for his Part he had done his Holiness no Injury but that it was rather those Collectors and Preachers who put on by Covetousness and greedy of Lucre had spoken foul and ignominious Things to the People that by these he had been grievously accused and informed against whereas he stood so well affected towards the Church of Rome and his Holiness himself that he had no Thoughts of Attempting any thing against it for that the Power and Authority of the Church was so great that next to Christ it was the most excellent thing in the World that he prayed his Holiness not to give credit to his Adversaries That he would never hereafter make mention of the Indulgences provided his Enemies on the other Hand were also enjoyned Silence that he would also advise the People in his Sermons to entertain Reverent and Honourable Thoughts of the Church of Rome not to impute to it the Boldness and Covetousness of some of its Members nor yet imitate his Example who being in some manner necessitated by his Adversaries had treated the Church somewhat irreverently and unbecomingly In short that he would do any thing for Peace sake That in all his Proceedings he had had this constantly before his Eyes That the Church of Rome should not be aspersed by the wickedness of some Men nor the People imposed upon by false Doctrine and that this his Care and Diligence could not be lyable to any Censure That he was not much concerned about Matters indifferent provided no Errour nor erroneous Persuasion possessed Men's Minds Before Miltitz arrived in Germany the Emperour Maximilian dyed in Austria January 12. the Electors then were Albert Archbishop of Mentz Herman Archbishop of Cologne and Richard Archbishop of Treves Ludovick Prince Palatine Frederick Duke of Saxony Joachim Marquess of Brandenburg and Lewis King of Bohemia who was also King of Hungary These being according to the Custome of the Empire summoned by the Elector of Mentz met in the Month of June at Frankford a City upon the River of Main whither the King of Bohemia sent his Deputy Ladislaus Sterneberg The Archbishop of Mentz spoke first and having said much of the greatness of the Affair exhorted them to Unity and Concord shewing by many Instances in former times how much mischief the Dissention of the Electors had done to Germany and that they all ought to be the more unanimous now that they were threatned with great Dangers from the Turks and from others also who sought the Division of Germany There were two Competitours that stood for the Imperial Dignity Charles Archduke of Austria who three Years before had succeeded to Ferdinand King of Spain his Grand-Father by the Mother and Francis King of France who having defeated the Switzers four Years before at Marignano was in Possession of the Dutchy of Milan And the Ambassadours of Charles about that time were come as far as Mentz four German Miles distant from Frankford but the French Ambassadours stopt at Coblentz a Town belonging to the Archbishop of Treves upon the confluent of the Rhine and Moselle They severally by Letters and Agents recommended their own Princes to the Electors and used what Arguments they could to persuade them but especially the French who easily understood that their Pretensions were not so acceptable as differing from the Germans in Language Customs and Manners The French King having overcome the Switzers as we have said was in Possession of Lumbardy but seeing he lookt upon their Friendship to be in a manner necessary for the Safety of his own Kingdom with high Promises and great Losses he purchased it the next Year after Now therefore the Empire being void by the Death of Maximilian he sent Ambassadours to acquaint them with the Reasons why he desired to be chosen Emperour and withal to crave their Assistance and Intercession for him with the Electors Their Answer was That when they had made Friendship and entred into a League with him they had excepted the Church of Rome and the Empire That it concerned the Majesty of the Empire that the Voices of the Electors should be free so that they could not forestal that Liberty by making any previous Declaration of their Inclinations Thus the Ambassadours being dismissed they wrote to the Electors acquainting them with the Application the King had made unto them and with their Answer thereunto praying them withal that they would have no regard unto it but chuse some German Prince and thereby infinitely oblige them They wrote besides to Pope Leo and seeing it belonged to him to confirm and inaugurate the Emperour elect they besought him that he would bestir himself to hinder that that Dignity should not be bestowed upon any Foreign Prince To this he made answer That he heard there was one who aspired to that Honour that could not lawfully do it for that the Kings of Naples were the Vassals of the Pope of Rome and had obliged themselves of old not to aim at the Roman Empire but to rest satisfied with one of the two and that he had already given intimation of this to the Electors By this he meant Charles Archduke of Austria for after the Overthrow which the French King gave the Switzers September 13. 1515 when he carried with him Maximilian Sforza into France Pope Leo following the Fortune of the Victorious in the Month of December came to Bolonia and there having had an Interview and long Conference with King Francis he confirmed Friendship with him And this among others was one Cause why at this Time he favoured his Pretensions Now as to what he said of the Kingdom of Naples this is the Case When Manfred natural Son to the Emperour Frederick II Made War against the Church of Rome Pope Clement IV in the Year 1365 that he might repress him took the Course which his Predecessor Vrban IV was about to have taken as it is reported and having sent for Charles Count of Provence and Anjou into Italy declared him King of Sicily and Naples but on Condition First That he should hold the same in Fee of the Church of Rome and therefore pay the sum of forty thousand Crowns yearly and then that he should at no Time aspire to the Dignity of the Roman Empire nor accept of it though freely offered unto him When the Matter was brought into Deliberation the Arhbishop of Mentz having first consulted apart with Frederick Duke of Saxony who was of great Authority amongst the
they might prove of great use to others as well as to himself who was exceedingly pleased with them but that there was one thing that he would have him admonished of and that was That more might be done by a civil Modesty than by Transports and Heat that he ought rather to thunder against those who abused the Authority of Popes than against the Popes themselves that about inveterate things which cannot be suddenly pluck'd out it is better to dispute with pithy and close Arguments than to assert positively and that in this Case the Passions and Affections must be laid aside That he gave him this Admonition not that he might learn what he was to do but that he should proceed as he had begun Luther's Doctrine having in this manner caused much Strife and Contention and raised him many Enemies there was a Disputation appointed to be at Leipsick a Town in Misnia belonging to George Duke of Saxony Cousin-german to the Elector Frederick thither came Luther and with him Philip Melanchthon who the Year before came to Wittemberg being sent for by Duke Frederick to be Professour of the Greek Language there thither came also John Eckius a bold and confident Divine On the Day appointed which was July 4 the Disputation was begun by Eckius who having proposed some Positions to be debated made this his last That they who affirmed that before the time of Pope Silvester the Church of Rome was not the first of all Churches did err for that he who attained to the See and Faith of S. Peter the Prince of the Apostles was always acknowledged for the Successor of S. Peter and the Vicar of Christ upon Earth The contrary Position to this was published by Luther to wit That they who attributed Primacy to the Church of Rome had no other Ground for it but the bare and insipid Decretals of the Popes made about four hundred Years ago but that these Decretals were repugnant not only to all Histories written a thousand Years since but also to Holy Scripture and the Council of Nice the most Famous of all Councils Eckius then entring upon the Dispute laid hold of that last Position and would begin the Debate about the Authority and Primacy of the Pope of Rome but Luther having made a short Preface said That he had rather that that Argument as being very Odious and not at all Necessary might have been waved and that for the sake of the Pope that he was sorry he should have been drawn into it by Eckius and that he wished now his Adversaries were present who having grievously accused him and now shunn'd the Light and a fair Tryal of their Cause did not do well Eckius also having made a Preamble declared That he had not raised this Bustle and Stir but that it was Luther who in his first Explication of his Theses had denyed That before Silvester's time the Pope of Rome preceded the rest in Order and Dignity and had averred before Cajetane That Pope Pelagius had wrested many Places of Scripture according to his own Pleasure which being so that all the Fault lay at his Door The first Debate then was about the Supremacy of the Pope of Rome which Eckius said was instituted by Divine Right and called Luther who denyed it a Bohemian because Huss had been heretofore of the same Opinion Luther to justifie himself from this Accusation proved That the Church of Christ had been spread and propagated far and near twenty Years before S. Peter constituted a Church at Rome that this then was not the First and Chief Church by Divine Right Afterwards Eckius impugned Luther's other Positions of Purgatory Indulgences Penance the Pardon of the Guilt and Remission of the Punishment of Sin and of the Power of Priest At length on the fourteenth Day ended the Dispute which had been appointed not upon the account of Luther but of Andrew Carolstad though Luther came to it in company of Carolstad only to hear but being drawn in by Eckius who had procured a Safe-Conduct for him from Duke George he entred the Lists of Disputation for Eckius was brisk and confident because of the Nature of the Subject wherein he promised himself certain Victory Luther afterwards published the whole Conference and Debate and by an ingenious Animadversion upon the Writings and Sayings of his Adversaries gathered several Heads of Doctrine downright Heretical as he said That so he might make it appear That whilst they spoke and wrote any thing in Favour of the Pope and were transported with the Zeal of defending their Cause they interspersed many things which being narrowly inspected contained a great deal of Errour and Impiety Vlrick Zuinglius taught at that time at Zurich in Suitzerland whither he came upon a call in the beginning of this Year having before preached at Claris and in the Desert of our Lady as they call it Not long after Fryer Samson a Franciscean of Milan came thither also being sent by the Pope to preach up Indulgences and squeeze Money from the People Zuinglius stoutly opposed him and publickly called him an Imposter CAROLVS V. AVSTRIACVS D.G. ROMAN IMP SEMPER AVG REX HISPAN Natus Gandavi Ao. MD. Die. XXIV Febr Electus Ao. MDXIX XXVIII Iunij Ferdinando Frat Imp Commisit VII o Sept. MDLVI Obijt XXI Sept MDLVIII THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK II. The CONTENTS Luther by the advice of Charles Miltitz writes to the Pope and presents him with his Book of Christian Liberty The Emperor departs from Spain and passes through England into the Low-Countries Luther writes a Book which he calls Tessaradecas and another about the Manner of Confession a third about Vows His Opinion concerning the Communion in Both Kinds To this his Adversaries object a Decree of the Council of Lateran under Julius II of whose Actions you have a large Account In the mean time the Divines of Lovain and Cologn condemn Luther's Books In his Defence the Opinions of Picus Mirandula the Questions of Ockam and the Controversie of Reuchlin with the same Divines are recited Seeing himself attack'd by so many Enemies he writes to the Emperor soon after to the Archbishop of Mentz and Bishop of Mersburg The Elector Frederick finding that he had lost his Credit at Rome upon Luther's account endeavours to clear himself by Letter Luther likewise does the same The Pope Excommunicates him and he appeals again from the Decree of the Council of Mantua and puts out his Book of the Babylonish Captivity The Emperor is Crown'd at Aix la Chapelle The Pope again sollicites Frederick but not prevailing causes Luther's Books to be burnt Which when Luther understood he burnt the Popes Bull and the Canon Law and gives his Reasons for it He Answers Ambrose Catarino who had written against him IN the former Book an Account has been given of what relates to Charles Miltitz and his Negotiation at the Court of the Elector
to these joyned themselves the Embassadors of Maximilian the Emperor and of Lewis XII King of France who were also embarqued in the same Design The time when this Council was called was the Nineteenth of May in the Year of our Lord 1511 that so the first Session might begin on the First of September next ensuing The Cause they alledg'd to justifie this their Proceeding was That the Pope had broken his Oath for that although so many years of his Pontificate were already elapsed yet he had not given them any the least hopes of his having any Inclination to call a Council and that because they had very great and heinous Crimes to lay to his charge they could not any longer neglect the care of the Church which was a Duty imcumbent on them as Members of the sacred College Their intent really was to depose him from the Popedom which he had obtained by Bribery and other such honest arts and means as all Persons make use of who aspire to the Infallible Chair And because they could no way safely convey this their Remonstrance to him they caused it to be publickly affixed at Regio Modena and Parma which were all three Towns belonging to St. Peter's Patrimony and they added a Citation to him to appear Personally at a certain day therein mentioned Julius having received Information of all this returned this Answer on the Eighteenth of July That before he came to be Pope he longed for nothing more than the calling a general Council as was very well known to several Kings and to the whole College of Cardinals and that purely upon this account he lost the Favour of Alexander VI. That he continued still of the same mind but that the state of Italy had been so unsetled for several years last past and was left so by his Predecessor Alexander That it was altogether impossible to have formed a Council while things continued in that distracted condition After this he shews them that their Summons was void in it self by reason of the shortness of the time limited in it and the inconveniency of the place for that Pisa had suffered so much in the late Wars that it was now nothing almost but an heap of Ruins and that the Country round about it was all wasted and desolate nor could there be any safe passage thither because of the daily Hostilities committed between the Florentines and those of Senese To this he adds in the last place That they had no legal Power of issuing out any such Summons and that the Reasons given by them for so doing were altogether false and groundless Therefore under pain of the severest Censures he forbids all Persons to yield any Obedience to them At the same time he by a Bull subscribed by One and twenty Cardinals called a Council to meet the next year which should commence on the Nineteenth of April and be held in the Lateran Church in Rome For this they say has always been one of the Papal Artifices that whensoever upon any Pretext they took occasion for some secret motives to decline the holding of a Council though called by never so lawful an Authority at the same time to Summon another to meet in such a place in which they could with the greatest ease influence all the Proceedings in it After this he admonishes the Confederate Cardinals to desist in time and return to Rome and accept of the Pardon now offer'd them But they continuing still refractory on the Twenty fourth of October he Excommunicates them all and those three that we mentioned before in particular by name as Hereticks Schismaticks and Traytors to the Apostolick See and sends Copies of this Bull to Maximilian the Emperor and several other Princes And because there were divers Bishops of France who adhered firmly to the Cardinals interests he Excommunicates them also unless they return to their Duty and make their Purgation within a prefixed time On the other side the Cardinals having several times in vain cited the Pope to come and appear before them there in Council by a Decree made in the Eighth Session suspended him from all Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and commanded all Christians for the future to renounce his Authority and acknowledge him no longer for St. Peter's Successor This was in the Year of our Lord 1512 on the Twenty first of April But you must take notice that although the Council were removed from Pisa to Milan yet it still kept its old Name and was called the Pisane Council At this time there was a very famous Civilian at Pavia whose Name was Philip Decius he having espoused the Cardinals Cause published a Book in Defence of their Proceedings against the Pope A little after this Maximilian strikes up a League with Julius and Ferdinand King of Spain and so leaves the Cardinals in the Church to shift for themselves and sends Matthew Langus Bishop of Gurk to Rome to sit as his Proxy in the Council that was holden there and him Julius immediately promoted to the Dignity of the Purple But Lewis II King of France who was truer to his Engagements and had lately routed the Popes Forces near Ravenna could not escape the thunders of the Vatican his Subjects were absolved from their Allegiance his Kingdom put under an Interdict and an Invasion of it was now no less than meritorious But after the end of the Fifth Session on the Twenty first of February in the Year of our Lord 1513 Pope Julius dies and Leo X is chosen by the Conclave to succeed him He immediately after his Inaguration proceeds to compleat what his Predecessor had begun and because the state of Affairs in Europe was now a little more calm than at any time during the former Pontificate a great many Kings and Princes sent their Embassadors to Rome to assist at this Lateran Council The Cardinals also whom Julius had Excommunicated having since his Death nothing to give any colour to their continuing in their Obstinacy made their humble Submission and Suit to be indemnified for what was past and being received into Favour by Leo were restored to their former Dignities and Preferments as Leo himself declares in an Epistle wrote by him to Maximilian The Council broke up on the Twelfth of March in the Year of our Lord 1516 there having been seven Sessions since the Death of Julius for there were but twelve in all the whole four years that this Council lasted from its first Convention to its Dissolution The chief Transactions in it were these The Praises of Julius and Leo were the Subjects of those luscious Panegyricks with which the Auditory were almost daily entertained There were some Motions made in order to the engaging in a War against the Turks and concerning the Reformation of the Church And also there was a Debate about the Immortality of the Soul which began to admit of a Dispute now in
those of Cologne taking no notice of this proceed to Censure Capnion's Book with a Salvo as they pretend to the Credit of the Author and in February 1514 they publickly burnt it this the Bishop of Spire took as an Affront put upon him and because the Prosecutor having been legally Cited had never appeared at the Day but made Default he gave Judgment for Capnion with an Approbation of his Book and condemned Hogostrate to pay the Costs of the Suit. He that he might avoid this Sentence hastens to Rome In the mean time the Divines of his Party make their Applications to the University of Paris and by the Help of Erand Marchian Bishop of Liege who was then in the French Interests they cajoled Lewis XII so as to make him inclinable to favour their Cause Therefore after a long Consultation those of Paris also Condemn the Book as deserving to be Burnt and whose Author ought to be compelled to make a Recantation and their Judgment was That the Jewish Talmuds were justly censured by former Popes and deservedly burnt by their Predecessors This was in the same Year on August 2. To prevent this the Duke of Wirtemberg had interceeded with them by his Letters and Reuchline also himself had written very courteously as having been formerly a Scholar of that University and he sent inclosed the Judgment given by the Bishop of Spire but all to no purpose Hogostrate being come to Rome managed his Business with very great Address but there were some Cardinals who favoured Reuchline upon the account of his eminent Learning among these was Adrian who has a Piece extant concerning the Latin Tongue Leo at last appoints certain Delegates to inspect the matter and they seeming to lean towards Capnion's side Hogostrate having met with nothing but Disappointments after above three Years stay in Rome sneaked away Home into his own Country But it is not to be thought what a Scandal the Divines of Cologn brought upon themselves by this Imprudent Act of theirs for there was not a Man who pretended to any thing of Ingenuity or Scholarship in all Germany who had not a Fling at them in some smart Lampoon or Satyr applauding Reuchline and ridiculing them as Blockheads and Dunces and sworn Enemies to that Laborious but useful Study of Languages and to all other more polite Learning And Erasmus of Roterdam was not wanting to use his interest with the Cardinals in Capnion's behalf concerning which he has several Epistles yet extant which he then sent to Rome The Divines of Louvain before they would declare what was their Opinion in Luther's Case consulted first with the Cardinal Adrian Bishop of Tortona who had been a Member of their College and Order and who was at that time in Spain and being backed with the Authority of his Judgment they published their Censure Luther finding himself so hard beset on all Sides addressed himself in an Epistle to the late elected Emperour Charles V and having made his Apology That a Man of his mean Quality should presume to write to so great a Potentate he tells him That the Reasons were very weighty which had emboldned him to do this and that the Glory of Christ himself was concerned in his Cause That he had published some few small Books which had procured him the Displeasure of a great many Persons but that the Fault ought not to lye at his Door for that it was with great Reluctancy that his Adversaries had drawn him to enter the Lists That a Private Retired Life was much more agreeable to his Inclinations but that his chief Care and Study was to make known the pure and uncorrupt Doctrin of the Gospel in opposition to the false Glosses and even contradictory Ordinances of Men That there were a great number of Persons eminent both for Learning and Piety who could attest the Truth of what he said And that this alone was the Cause of all that Odium and Infamy of those Dangers Contumelies and Losses to which almost for three Years he had been continually exposed That he had omitted nothing which might contribute to an Accommodation but that the oftner he made any Proposals tending that way the more resolved his Adversaries seemed to continue the Breach That he had frequently and earnestly requested them to convince him of his Errours and to give him such Rules by the which he might the better guide himself for the Time to come but that he could never obtain any other Answer from them but barbarous Injuries and railing Buffoonery their Design being to rid the World both of him and the Gospel together That by these Means he was driven to have recourse to the last Remedy and forced according to the Example of Athanasius to fly to him as to the inviolable Sanctuary and Protection of the Law And to beseech him to take upon him the Patronage of the Christian Religion and vouchsafe to shelter him from all Violence and Injury until he should be more fully informed in the Matter If it should appear that he had been ingaged in the Maintenance of any thing that was Unjustifiable he then desired no Favour His humble Petition was only to have a fair Hearing and that every one would t'ill then suspend his Judgment That this was a part of his Duty and that therefore God had intrusted him with this Supreme Power that he might maintain and distribute impartial Justice and defend the Cause of the Poor and Weak against all the Insults of their powerful Oppressors After this he writes much to the same purpose to all the States of the Empire telling them how unwilling he was to have ingaged in this Controversie and with what bitter Malice he was prosecuted by his Enemies when his Aim was purely this by propagating the true Doctrin of the Gospel to convince Men how Inconsistent it was with those false Opinions of which they had been so long but too Tenacious Then he recites in short all that had been done by him in order to a Reconciliation how he had several times promised by a voluntary Silence to let the Cause fall upon condition his Adversaries would cease their impertinent Babling desiring nothing more than to be better informed if he was in the wrong and being willing to submit freely to the Judgment and Censure of all good Men But that these Requests of his had not as yet had their desired Effect his Adversaries continually loading him with all manner of Injuries and Reproaches That since it was so he desired them not to give Credit to any disadvantagious Reports which they might hear of him If he had at any time been guilty of any Sharpness or Petulancy in his Writings it was no more than what he had been forced to by their paultry sawcy Pamphlets which they were almost daily spawning against him In the last place he makes now the same Profers for the composing the Difference which he had so often formerly done
he is led to the Altar and there takes his Oath to perform all this and so returns again to his Throne Then the Elector of Cologn demands of those that were present Whether they will yield him due Faith and Allegiance which being promised and some other Prayers recited he anoints him on the Breast the Head the Bendings of the Arms and the Palms of the Hands And being thus anointed the Archbishops of Mentz and Triers lead him into the Vestry and there having clothed him like a Deacon place him again in his Throne After other Prayers the Archbishop of Cologn accompanied by the two other Archbishops delivers him a Sword drawn and commends the Commonwealth to his Care and when he has sheathed this Sword puts a Ring on his Finger and vests him with the Imperial Robe gives him a Scepter and Globe and the three Archbishops together put the Crown on his Head From thence he is lead to the Altar and there swears again That he will do the Duty of a good Prince after which accompanied by the Archbishops he goes up into a part of the Church which is purposely raised higher than the rest and is there placed in a Seat of Stone Then the Archbishop of Mentz making a Speech in the Vulgar Tongue wishes him great Prosperity commending to him himself his Colleagues and the States of the Empire The Prebendaries of the Church do likewise congratulate him into whose number he is chosen by an ancient Custom And after all he is entertained by a Consort of Vocal and Instrumental Musick The Lady Margaret the Emperour's Aunt who was Governess of the Low Countries was present during the whole Ceremony When Mass was over and the Emperour had received the Sacrament he Knights as many as offered themselves which Honour used to be given anciently only to those who had signalized their Courage in War and was the Reward of Valour And now the manner is for Kings to strike gently with their naked Sword the Shoulders of those that are to receive the Honour And by this Ceremony only now a days many are made Knights not only of the Nobility but Tradesmen and others From the Church they proceed to the Palace which is magnificently adorned there the Emperour Dines and the Electors also every one by himself there being Tables placed in the same Hall on both Sides the Emperour's the Archbishop of Triers sitting right against the Emperour according to one of the Laws of Charles IV. By an ancient Custom a whole Ox is roasted that Day with several other things in his Belly part of it is brought to the Emperour's Table and the rest is given to the Rabble and two Conduits run all the while with Wine After Dinner the Emperour returning to his Lodging delivers the Seal of the Empire to the Archbishop of Mentz and the next Day he treats the Electors The Day following repairing to the Church when he had heard Mass he worships the Holy Relicks as they call them and among these a Linen-Cloth in which they say our Blessed Saviour was wrapt when he lay in his Cradle After this the Archbishop of Mentz pronounces That the Pope confirms the Election and commands That Charles V should hereafter be called Emperour The Electors being departed for fear of the Contagion the Emperour also takes his Journey and arriving at Cologn about the beginning of November he sends his Letters all over the Empire to call a Dyet on January 6 at Wormes As to what the Archbishop of Mentz said concerning the Pope's Confirmation it is now indeed grown into a Custom contrary to what it was formerly for heretofore the Bishops of Rome used to be approved of by the Emperours but increasing in Power they began not only to rule at Pleasure but brought it at last to that pass after much Strife and Contention That the Right of Electing should be in the Electors but they themselves only should have the Power of Confirming and Ratifying it And this Authority they have made use of in almost all Kingdoms chiefly in Italy Germany and France deposing the lawful Princes and puting others in their room For besides other Places of the Canon Law in the Decretal Epistles of Pope Gregory IX Innocent III affirms That the Right of chusing the Emperour by the Favour of the Bishops and See of Rome was translated from the Greeks to the Germans in the time of Charles the Great and 't is their Busines to judge of the fitness of the Person and not contented with this they make the chief Magistrate of the World swear Allegiance to them which very thing has been the Cause of great Wars and much mischief But at length Clement V who lived in the Year of our Lord 1300 bound them to it by a Law which he inserted into the Body of the Canon Law for when the Emperour Henry VII of the Family of Luxemburg refused the Oath as a new thing not practised in former Times Pope Clement to secure all for the future opens the Matter at large declaring what is contained in that Oath that is to say That the Emperour should defend the Roman Church root out Hereticks and avoid the Company of Wicked Men that he should by all means possible maintain the Dignity of the Popes defend and keep all priviledges granted at any Time to the Church of Rome but especially such as were given by Constantine Charles the Great Henry Otho IV Frederick II and Rodolph that he claimed no Right upon any account whatsoever over the Lands and Possessions of the Roman Church and that he would defend all other Churches in their Rights and Priviledges He declares that the Emperour is obliged to all this and that Henry himself promised as much by his Envoys however afterwards he refused to own it But this Decree of the Popes came not out till after Henry was dead This is that Clement who first of all summoned the Cardinals from Rome to Lions in France and kept his Court there since which time the Authority and Power of the Emperours has decreased daily in Italy and the Power and Dignity of the Popes been augmented so that Emperours of a later date imagined that they owe them this Obedience and Allegiance But the chief of those Popes that have been in this Matter troublesome to our Emperours are Gregory VII Alexander III Innocent III Gregory IX Innocent IV Nicholas III Boniface VIII and Clement V. But to return from whence we have digressed While the Emperour was at Cologn the Pope began again to incense Frederick Duke of Saxony against Luther by Marinus Caracciolus and Jerome Aleander who speaking first in praise of him and his Family and telling the Danger that hung over Germany by reason of Luther's pernicious Writings demanded at length two things First That he would command all his Books to be burnt And Secondly That he would either execute him himself or send him Prisoner to the Pope There were
depart allowing you one and twenty Days to return home in He will also inviolably observe the Safe-Conduct he gave you but charges you not to teach the People by Word nor Writing as you are upon your Way homeward Being thus dismissed he gave Glory to God and April 26 departed being conducted by the same Herald who brought him before He wrote to the Emperor upon the Road and after he had in few words resum'd all that had past he begg'd of His Imperial Majesty That since he had been alwaies hitherto and still was willing to submit to Conditions of Peace and Agreement and desired no more but that the Controversie might be determined by any impartial Judge according to the Authority of holy Scripture he would be pleased to Protect him against the violence and fury of his adversaries That 't was not his private Cause but the publick Concern of the whole World and especially of Germany whose safety and welfare he preferr'd before his own life To the same purpose also he wrote to the rest of the Princes and States and that whensoever it should seem good to the Emperor and them he would come upon safe conduct whithersoever they pleased and debate his cause before impartial and unsuspected Judges Whereas in this work there is frequent mention made of Huss the Council of Constance and the Bohemians I 'll give the Reader a short account of the whole matter In the year of our Lord 1393 there was one John Wickliff in England who wrote many things against the Roman Papacy which were afterwards carried into Bohemia At that time there was a famous University in Prague and therein slourished John Huss a Divine by profession This man Preach'd up Wickliffs Doctrin as holy and saving and dispersed it far and near But being accused of this he was cited to appear before Pope Alexander V. he by his Proctors alledged causes why he could not come And King Wenceslaus also interceded for him desiring the Pope to send Legats into Bohemia to try the matter there but that could not be obtained Huss being therefore condemned for an Heretick published a Book wherein he appealed from the Pope to Christ as Judge The Church of Rome at that time was in a very troublesom State. For the Cardinals being divided into factions had chosen three Anti-Popes Gregory XII Benet XIII and John XXIII which highly displeased other Kings as well as the Emperor Sigismund who having solicited Pope John he at length called the Council of Constance Now Sigismund who was the Brother of King Wenceslaus called John Huss thither and in October 1414 sent him a safe conduct in due form Whereupon Huss being accompanied by some persons of quality came to Constance on the third of November but three weeks after being called to a private Conference with the Pope and Cardinals he was detained prisoner The Emperor Sigismund was absent then and being inform'd of the matter was highly displeased and came thither But the Papists urging that Faith was not to be kept with Hereticks he not only remitted the offence though the Bohemians importun'd him to the contrary and demanded performance of the safe conduct but was also the first that spake bitterly against him In fine on the sixth of July following the Council condemn'd him as an Heretick and Seditious Person and ordered the Books he had written to be burnt Being thus condemn'd he was delivered over to the Emperor and burnt his ashes being afterwards cast into the Rhine that no relick of him might remain After him Jerome of Prague his Disciple and Hearer was put to Death in the same manner In this Council besides the Emperour were the Ambassadours of many Kings three Electoral Princes of the Empire Lewis Prince Palatine Rodulph Duke of Saxony and Frederick Marquess of Brandenburg and a vast number of the other Princes three Patriarchs of Aquileia Antioch and Constantinople eight and twenty Cardinals an hundred and fifty five Bishops very many Divines and Lawyers Italians Germans French English Hungarians and Polonians The Doctrin of Wickliff was here also condemned and a Decree made that his Body should be taken up and burnt in England It was besides Decreed that none but Priests should receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in both kinds and that all others should be content with one kind which had been impugned by Huss A Law was also made that Faith should not be kept with Hereticks or persons suspected of Heresie though they should come under the Emperours Safe-Conduct to be tryed in Council Lastly the three Popes were degraded and by common Consent Martin V chosen When the News of the Execution of Huss and Jerome was brought into Bohemia it occasioned a terrible Commotion and afterwards a very cruel and bloody War under the Conduct of John Zischa so that Sigismond was forced to beg the Assistanc of the Empire but the greatest Cruelty was exercised against the Priests in hatred to the Pope whom they Cursed whose Dominion they shook off and embraced the Doctrin of Huss adoring his Memory Much about this Time the Divines of Paris condemned Luther's Books and out of that which is entitled Of the Captivity of Babylon and some others also they gathered certain Heads as of the Sacraments the Canons of the Church the Equality of Works Vows Contrition Absolution Satisfaction Purgatory Free-Will the immunity of the Clergy Councils the Punishments of Hereticks Philosophy School-Divinity and many more of the like sort admonishing the Reader and all who professed the Name of Christ to beware of such pernicious Doctrins For that it was the Custom of Hereticks to propose specious Matters at first which sinking once down into the Mind could hardly ever be got out again but that under those alluring Words present Poyson lay hid Then they reckoned up in Order the Hereticks of the several Ages and among these Wickliff John Huss and last of all Luther whom they mightily blamed as an arrogant and rash Man that he should imagine himself alone to know more than all others contemn the Judgments of all the Holy Fathers and Interpreters of all Councils and Schools and that he should reject the Custom and Consent of the Church observed for so many Ages as if it were credible That Christ would have left all that while his only Spouse to wander in so great Darkness of Errour but that it was the usual way with Hereticks to wrest Scripture to their own Sense Having then reckoned up some Books written by him they shew what Hereticks Luther imitated in such and such Opinions and that seeing it properly belonged to their Office and Profession to stifle springing Heresies as much as lay in their Power they had therefore diligently perused his Books that they might direct all Men how to have a Care of them and that after much Reading of his Writings they found that his Doctrin was pernicious deserving to be burnt and that
for in the first Year of the Reign of Henry VII of England which was in the Year of our Lord 1486 the same Plague infested that Country And because there was no Remedy known for such a new Distemper it swept away a vast number of People At this time also there was a great Scarcity of Corn and Wine so that all the Judgments wherewith God in his Anger uses to punish an unthankful people as the Sword Pestilence and Famine fell upon Germany at one and the same time At this time also were Prisoners at Cologne Peter Flisted and Adolph Clarebacke two learned Men because they differed in Judgment from the Papists concerning the Lord's Supper and other Points of Doctrin The Senate of that Town hath Right and Power to imprison Offenders but the Archbishop alone hath the Power of Life and Death and it may fall out that whom the Senate hath condemned to Death the Bishop's Judge may acquit Now these two having lain in Prison a Year and an half and more were at length condemned by both Judicatures and burnt to the great Grief and Commiseration of many Most People blamed the Preachers for that who cryed that the Wrath of God who afflicted us with a new kind of Disease was to be appeased by the Execution of the Wicked and Ungodly Adolph was a handsome Man Eloquent and Learned and when they were led to the place of Execution they made profession and gave the Reasons of their Belief confirming and encouraging one another with Texts of Scripture so that all People fixed their Eyes and Thoughts upon them We told you before of the Difference betwixt Luther and Zuinglius about the Lord's Supper when this had been tossed to and fro for above three Years with much Contention many who were troubled that this single Controversie should hinder an Uniformity in Doctrin earnestly wished that some Remedy might be thereunto applyed therefore the Landgrave having communicated the matter to his Associates and prevailed also with the Switzers appointed a Day when Learned Men of both Parties should meet at Marpurg and calmly discourse the Point From Saxony came Luther Melanchthon and Jonas from Switzerland Zuinglius and Oecolampadius from Strasburg Bucer and Hedio and from Norimberg Osiander many Grave and Learned Men were present besides though none but Luther and Zuinglius reasoned the Point But the Sweating Disease infecting that Town also the Conference was broken up by the Landgrave's order and this concluded upon That since they all agreed about the chief Points of Doctrin they should for the future refrain from all Contention and pray to God that he would also enlighten them in this Controversie and put them in the way of Concord And so they friendly parted in the beginning of October It hath been said already That at the Dyet of Spire which was held three Years before the Elector of Saxony and Landgrave made mention of entring into a League this matter was several times brought into deliberation afterwards and especially now that this Decree was made they began to think of it more seriously so that after the Dyet was over a certain Draught of it was made at Norimberg and afterwards more fully debated And when in the Month of October the Deputies of the Princes and States met at Swaback it was propounded in the Names of the Elector of Saxony and George Marquess of Brandenburg That seeing the Defence of the True Religion was the Ground and Cause of this League it behoved first that all should be unanimous in the same wherefore the summ of their Doctrin comprehended in some Chapters was read and approved by all only the Deputies of Strasburg and Vlm alledged That no mention had been made thereof in the former Assembly nor had they any Instructions concerning it They were not all of the same Opinion about the Point of the Lord's Supper as we told you before and this was the only Scruple Seeing therefore nothing could be concluded because of that another Meeting was appointed to be at Smalcalde the thirteenth of December When the Emperour was now come into Italy Erasmus of Roterdam who having left Basil because of the Change of Religion and to avoid Suspicion was come to Friburg a Town belonging to King Ferdinand in the Month of November published a little Book entituled Against some who falsly called themselves Gospel-Teachers but in reality he has a Touch at all the Reformed for among many other things he says he never knew any of them who appeared not to be a worse Man than he was before This Book was afterwards answered by the Divines of Strasburg because they and those of Basil were chiefly aimed at but above all others Bucer When the Emperour was coming to Bolonia Francis Sforza who had been before in League with the Pope and French King went to meet him and having pleaded his own Cause at the Intercession of Clement VII at length recovered the Dutchy of Milan from the Emperour but upon this among other Conditions That he should pay him nine hundred thousand Crowns one half the same Year and the rest within ten Years successively by equal Portions and as a Pledge the Emperour was to keep in his Hands Como and the Castle of Milan until the first Years Payment should be made THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK VII The CONTENTS The Protestant Ambassadors sent to the Emperor appeal from the Answer they received at Piacenza where they were stopt which the Protestants understanding appoint a meeting at Smalcalde The City of Strasburg makes a League with Three of the Switz Cantons The Emperor being Crowned by the Pope at Bolonia calls a Diet of the States of the Empire at Ausburg where the Protestants exhibit a Confession of their Faith which in a contrary writing is Answered and Confuted by their Adversaries Some are appointed to accommodate the matter amicably and to find out some means of Concord The Emperor sollicites the Protestants who notwithstanding all the Exhortations that were made unto them the Objections and Calumnies wherewith they were charged stedfastly persevered in their Confession and having given in their last Answer depart The Tyber overflows at Rome Eckius and Faber demand and obtain an honourable Reward for the Refutations they wrote against those of Strasburg and other Cities The Transaction of Prusia is rescinded The Decree of Ausburg is related Luther who was come nearer to Ausburg comforts Melanchthon then in Anxiety because of that Decree Bucer goes to him that he might reconcile him with Zuinglius The creation of Ferdinand King of the Romans comes into Agitation and is withstood by the Elector of Saxony and other Princes but nevertheless he is created King and installed in the Kingdom WE told you before that the Protestants resolved upon sending Ambassadors to the Emperour These were John Ekinger Alexius Fraventrute and Michael Caden of Norimberg who being advanced as far as
end of this Month they wrote to the Senate of Strasburg That it was commonly reported they had made a League with some of the Cantons of Switzerland That it was very much wondred at by them that they who were bound in Allegiance to the Empire should without the Consent of the Emperour and States make any League with any People And that though all men generally affirmed it to be so yet they were unwilling to believe it before they understood the matter from themselves and that therefore they desired that they would write to them who supplied the Emperour's place how matters stood and upon what Conditions they had entred into League The Deputies of the Princes and some few Cities came to that Assembly which was appointed to be at Norimberg where it was concluded that Ambassadours should be sent to the Emperour and King Ferdinand but that Resolution was altered And because they believed the Emperour would call a Diet of the Empire in the beginning of the Spring it was thought best to consult in the mean time what they ought to propose therein and that within a Month's time a report of their several Opinions should be made to the Elector of Saxony that the rest also might be acquainted therewith by him So they broke up on the Ninth of January In the mean time the Emperour who came to Bolonia on the Fifth of November by Letters sent into Germany dated the One and Twentieth day of January called a Diet of the States to meet at Ausburg the Eighth of April there to consult of Religion and of the Turkish War. PHILIPPVS MELANTHON GERMANICE DICTVS SCHWARTZERD Natus Bretta Anno. 1497. 17. February Augustanam Confessionem composuit A. 1530. Obijt Witteberga 19. Aprilis 1560. The first that came to Ausburg was the Elector of Saxony with his Son John Frederick Amongst the rest of his Train were Philip Melanchthon John Islebe Agricola Justus Jonas and George Spalatine The City of Vlm sent their Deputies to meet and welcome the Emperour and when with much a-do they were at length admitted into his Presence he required of them that they would renounce the Protestation that had been made the year before and for the future promise to be obedient The Senate of Ausburg had levied Eight Hundred men for a Guard to the City but when this came to the Emperour's Ears he commanded them to be disbanded and others raised in his Name who swore to be true to him and likewise demanded one of the City Gates to be put into his hands Some few days before he arrived there Cattinario whom I named before and was lately made Cardinal died at Inspruck and Granvel born at Besanzen succeeded into his place Much about this time Queen Elenor came from Spain with the French King 's Two Sons Francis and Henry who had been there Four whole Years Hostages for their Father Not long after the Emperour's Coronation the Pope sent a Nuncio to King Ferdinand Petro Paulo Vergerio a Lawyer with ample Commission but his chief instructions were That he should use all endeavours to prevent the holding of a National Council of Germany and that King Ferdinand should oppose any Treaty of that kind He carefully acquitted himself of his Commission and did all he could to hamper and vex the Lutherans being very liberal to Faber Eckius Cochleas and Nauseas that they might ply them briskly He made also Eckius a Canon of Ratisbonne as being the Pope's Legate who being present the Right of Election commonly ceases The Emperour came to Ausburg on the Fifteeneth of June towards the Evening Most of the Princes were there before who all went forth to meet him and most civilly received him In his Retinue was Cardinal Campegio being sent from the Pope with plenary Power and Commission Betwixt him and his Brother Ferdinand the Emperour intended to have made his entry into the Town but because that was contrary to the Custom of the Empire the Electors of Mentz and Cologne went immediately before him and after him came Ferdinand and Campegio The next day was Corpus Christi day wherefore the Emperour went to Church to his Devotions and the Archbishop of Mentz said Mass All the Princes were there present except the Elector of Saxony the Landgrave the Two Brothers Dukes of Lunenburg George Marquess of Brandenburg and the Count of Anhalt The Emperour had sent them word both that they should be there and also discharge their Divines from preaching but they did not come and withal alledged That since this Dyet was appointed for hearing the Opinions of all they would not impose silence upon their Divines before their Cause were tryed Two days after came forth an Edict commanding the Preachers on both sides to desist until the matter of Religion should be decided but that nevertheless the Emperour should appoint some to preach without reflecting on any person This Edict was proclaimed by an Herauld and a Penalty appointed for the transgressors of it June the Twentieth the Dyet was opened and the Emperour being about to go to Mass according to Custom commanded the Elector of Saxony to be there and to carry the Sword before him for that is the duty of the house of Saxony on such solemn occasions He having consulted his Divines in the case who told him That he might lawfully do it since he was called upon to do his duty not to go to Mass went accompanied by George Marquess of Brandenburg but none of the rest came After Mass they went into the Publick Hall where Frederick Prince Palatine having made a short Preamble excused the Emperour's delay and again told them the Causes why the Dyet was called After that there was a long written Speech read as is usual and the effect of it was That they themselves knew how that as soon as he was by common consent chosen Emperour he had held a Dyet of all the States at Wormes but that at the same time he had been drawn into a War so that although he earnestly desired to have continued in Germany yet he was forced to return into Spain which nevertheless he did with their consent and not before he had ordered the Affairs of the Empire having constituted a Judicature and Council and left his Brother Ferdinand as his Lieutenant to represent his Person in his Absence and that in the good Opinion he conceived of their Loyalty Diligence and Virtue he had left Germany with the greater Quiet and Satisfaction of Mind trusting that they would as indeed they had so administer the Government that nothing could be found fault with But that in the mean time whilst he was in Spain he had heard That there were not only great Strifes and Dissentions in Germany about Religion but also that the Turks had invaded Hungary and the neighbouring Countries putting all to Fire and Sword And that Belgrade and several other Castles and Forts being lost King Lewis and the Nobles had sent
called that he promised them this upon his Royal Word but on this Condition still That in the mean time they should follow the same Religion which he and the rest of the Princes professed For that to procure the calling of a Council and yet to suffer things to continue at such uncertainties and not to put a stop to those Innovations all men did see how prejudicial that must needs prove both to himself and others They having consulted returned this Answer That they had not caused any new Sect nor separated from the Christian Church That they heartily thanked his Majesty for that he was not against a Council and begg'd that with the first opportunity an Holy and Free Council might be called in Germany as it had been decreed both in the last and former Dyet of Spire but that to receive the Rites and Doctrins of the Church of Rome which were now abolished they could not do it with a safe Conscience After long Deliberation the Emperour caused Truchses to tell them That he had carefully read over and perused the Memoires of the Conference and found that they dissented very much from the Christian Church That he wondred also at the Condescension of the Commissioners who had granted so many things and at their stiffness in not accepting what had been offered That whereas they grounded their demanding of a Council upon the Decrees of the Empire they had no Right to do so since they rejected the last Decree of Spire against which they had protested and appealed from it though he looked upon their Appeal as void and null since it was but reasonable that the smaller number should be determined by the greater and what an inconsiderable Party were they if compared with the Pope with himself and the rest of the Princes That therefore he desired to know of them if they were willing to enter into any further Treaty and Conference for that he would spare no pains nor trouble that he might by any means make way for Concord and Agreement but that if they refused a Treaty and would needs pursue their designs then he must do as became the Protector of the Church And that because it was drawing towards Night he gave them till next morning to consider on the matter Next day when all the States were met at the hour appointed Pontane a Lawyer made answer in Name of the Duke of Saxony and his Associates to this effect That if the Emperour understood the whole Affair as it was acted he would then believe their former Relation Nor did they doubt but their Doctrin would be judged consonant to the Word of God in the Judgment of an Holy and Free Council And that so it was the less to be wondred at that they did not accept of what had been lately granted and offered That that Appeal was for necessary Causes made only against that part of the Decree which struck at the Doctrin of the Gospel and the Custom of the Primitive Church That in all things else they obeyed it That besides at the very opening of that Dyet and long before the Decree was made a Council had been promised them by his Deputies Nor so only neither but in all the Dyets of the Empire that had constantly been the Opinion of all That since then they had appealed to his Imperial Majesty and a free Council they were in hopes that he would not derogate from their Appeal until a lawful Sentence should pass thereupon That it was not a place to dispute whether or not in this Controversie the smaller number should be concluded by the greater That that had indeed been the chief Reason which had obliged them to appeal and that they would in Council give their Reasons more fully for what they had done That therefore since all former Dyets had decreed a Council without any limitation or condition they earnestly desired that he would not rescind those Decrees but therein condescend to the Will and Resolution of the rest of the States That they rendred his Majesty most hearty Thanks That he was pleased to offer them a farther Conference and Treaty but that seeing it easily appeared by the Acts of the last Conference that they had condescended as far as possibly they could and that he himself wondred at the Papists for granting so much it might with small Difficulty be gathered what his Majesty's Judgment was in the case so that it would be in vain to appoint any other Treaty because it would bring a Delay and hindrance to other Affairs But that they were very willing to consult of any way that might preserve the Peace of the Empire until the meeting of a Council as they had said at first and that in the mean time they would do nothing but what they should think pleasing both to God and to a lawful Council also After they had been commanded to withdraw they were at length called in again and because it was a weighty affair the Emperour said he would consider of it and withal desired the Duke of Saxony as being the chief of the Party not to depart from the Dyet George Truchses and Veh a Lawyer of Baden propounded some things privately concerning the Mass and Vows in order to a Reconciliation but that was in vain And therefore the Emperour commanded a Committee to be chosen for framing a Decree The Parties chosen were the Archbishop of Mentz the Elector of Brandenburg the Bishops of Saltsburg Strasburg and Spire George Duke of Saxony William Duke of Bavaria and Henry Duke of Brunswick When the Duke of Saxony was thinking of returning home the Emperour September the eighteenth desired of him that he would stay but four Days longer In the mean time the Princes of the Committee drew up the Form of a Decree and September the two and twentieth the Emperour sent for the Duke of Saxony and his Associates to come to Court and in a full Assembly of the Princes caused that to be read which concerned Religion which was That the Duke of Saxony and his Associates had exhibited a Confession of their Faith which had afterwards been refuted by Testimonies of Scripture and that through the Pains that he himself and the rest of the States had been at things were after brought to this pass that they had received some Doctrins of the Church and rejected others which being so that therefore to shew how desirous he was of Peace and how far from acting any thing unadvisedly or out of Private Interest he was graciously pleased to grant them time to consult until the fifteenth Day of April that in the mean time they might consider with them selves and come to a Resolution if in the remaining Points of Doctrin they would acquiesce to what the Pope he himself and the whole Christian World besides professed That in the mean while it was his Will and Pleasure that all Men throughout the Empire should live in Peace that the Duke of
orderly determin'd and such a Council too the Emperor has formerly promis'd and it has been decreed upon weighty deliberation in many Diets of the Empire that the same should be call'd together in Germany For the Fountain from whence these Dissentions have been deriv'd was the overgrown Impudence of some Men who preach'd up things here call'd Indulgencies At which time likewise certain egregious Errors such as could not be dissembled were detected and expos'd And though Pope Leo condemn'd this Doctrin which laid open those Errors yet to this his condemnation they confronted the Testimonies of the Prophets and Apostles Wherefore they always thought a Council to be highly necessary wherein they might come again to a right understanding of the Cause that is wherein it might be made plainly appear what is Truth and what is Error And this was not only their own sense but also the judgment of all the other Princes and States because they plainly saw and confess'd that many things had crept into Religion which ought either to be taken away or reform'd and because they well knew what it was that Men did wish for and what was requisite for the Publick Good. But when the Pope had condemn'd this their Doctrin Decrees were made in the Imperial Diets in these very words viz. That a free and Christian Council should be conven'd either of all Nations in general or else of the German Empire only And the reason that they were conceiv'd in these very words was that the Cause might not be prejudg'd or over-rul'd either by the foresaid Sentence of the Pope or by the force and power of any Man whatever And that Judgment might be made of the whole Controversie not from the Pontificial Laws or the Opinions of the Schools but from the Holy Scriptures For if any Man's authority be so great as to overballance the Holy Scriptures and right reason who can doubt but that all their pains and endeavours will be in vain when plac'd in opposition to the Pope For 't is well enough known what Progress has been made that way in some past Councils where a Reformation indeed has been set on foot but by the Interposition of the Popes has still been wholly set aside It has therefore been for very weighty Reasons decreed that a Council should be held in Germany and this has likewise been approv'd of by the Emperor But these Proposals of the Pope do altogether run counter to the Decrees of the Empire which have pass'd the Seals both of the Princes and the Emperor For though he speaks of a Free Council yet who can doubt but that he has quite another Prospect since his great Endeavours are to bring over Kings and Princes to his side For was he willing it should be Free to what purpose would these Engagements be But since he is so very industrious this way 't is manifest that his design must be this to keep up and maintain his Power and Tyranny by the Authority of a Council that so no body may dare to reprehend these Errors and Corruptions or if any one be so hardy he may pay very soundly for it What others will do they cannot tell but their opinion is that these his Proposals are of such a nature and so contriv'd that they are apt to deter Men from a Council rather then invite them to it For who will ingage himself at this rate especially when it does not yet appear what is like to be the Order form Method of the Council When it is not yet known whether the Pope will not set up his own Authority as Supream there and whether he is willing the Controversie should be discuss'd according to the Holy Scriptures or according to those Traditions and Canons which are not confirm'd by any Testimonies from Scripture The Freedom of the Council is likewise in danger from that expression of his That it shall be manag'd after the ancient and received manner Now though they do not in the least reject those Decrees of ancient Councils which are consonant to the Holy Scriptures Yet they think that there is a vast difference between those Councils and these which have been held within their own Memory or somewhat before wherein the Pope and Humane Decrees have been advanc'd to an extravagant Pitch Therefore when he saies it shall be held after the wonted manner it is a captious expression and may include that there shall not be such a freedom of Votes as they desire and the Cause it self requires but that Judgment shall be giv'n according to his own Laws and that Power which he has arrogated to himself as it has been done in some of the last Council But such proceedings as these are so far from reconciling the Churches and extricating doubtful and afflicted Consciences that they will rather involve them in thicker Darkness and plunge them into a deeper Slavery Since therefore the Pope has not yet answer'd the desire of the Emperor and the other States their earnest Request is that the Emperor would consider the vastness of the Cause wherein the whole Christian Commonwealth is concern'd and endeavour that it may be justly and legally manag'd For this is his proper Province and he has Power by the Laws to do it whenever Truth shall be obstructed by the Pope For care is to be taken that he may not be both Party and Judge at the same time Besides all People are set on tiptoes with the hopes of this Council and 't is the Subject of their most eager wishes and prayers that they may at last be deliver'd from the doubts and anguish of an afflicted Conscience and be set into the right way to Salvation For there have not been for many Ages such struglings about such momentous Affairs as there are now the occasion of which are those numerous Errors and Corruptions which long before our time have broke into the Church Now if the general expectation shall be thus made frustrate and such a Council as has formerly been promis'd cannot be obtain'd we may easily imagine what a surprising sorrow and affliction it will strike upon the minds of Men. Moreover if the Pope shall refuse to come to a fair Judgment of things it is much to be fear'd that both the Church and State will be agitated with more dangerous Tempests than ever But since all the States of the Empire have in all their Diets decreed for a regular Council they cannot doubt but they will stick to their Principles and kick in pieces those Snares which the Pope is preparing for them They likewise expect the same things from the other Princes For this Engagement which is now working is altogether full of trick and design and 't is impossible that Men should ever make a true and right judgment of things unless all their minds be kept free and unbiass'd But if he be resolv'd to go on and to have a Council after his own way they will then commit the whole Affair to God
the Popes Bull was not sufficient nor authentick She answer'd that it was too late to complain of the Bull now since they had approv'd it so long before And when the Dispute began to grow warm the Pope's assistance was desir'd to determine the Matter The Queen had miscarried several times neither did any of her Children live excepting the Princess Mary The Pope therefore undertook the Cause and delegated the hearing of it to the Cardinals Campegio and York And after a long debate when the King had hopes given him from Rome that things should go on his side Campegio by the Pope's Order when he was just upon the Point of the Sentence began to draw back and to throw in delays This Turn they say was occasioned by the death of General Lautrech and the loss of the French Army before Naples Andrew Auria likewise happening to revolt from Francis at the same time which made the Pope conclude that the Emperor Catharines Nephew by her Sister who was now so prosperous in Italy ought not in prudence to be disoblig'd Campegio therefore at last leaves England without bringing the Affair to any point at which the King was extreamly dissatisfied But that he might not seem to do any thing rashly he dispatch'd away several Agents into France Italy and Germany to Collect the sense of the Divines concerning his Marriage The Parisians and most of the rest seemed to declare for the unlawfulness of it though they were suspected to be bribed into their opinion Now there was one Anne Bolen in the Queens Service an incomparable handsome Maiden-Lady This Person the King began to set his Affections upon and discover'd intelligibly enough that he had a mind to marry her As soon as Cardinal Woolsey who was most intimate with the King and as they say moved first for the Divorce understood this design he changed his Resolution and writing to the Pope advised him not to null the Marriage for if he did another Woman infected with Lutheranism would succeed Catharine When the King was acquainted with the Cardinals proceedings by his Embassador at Rome he was very much offended with him and not long after removed him from his Office of Lord Chancellor and deprived him of two of the three Bishopricks which he held At last being reduc'd to a private Life and letting fall some passionate indecent Expressions importing a desire of revenge The King commanded him to dismiss the greatest part of his Servants and to come to Court with a small Retinue The Cardinal not being able to avoid it sets forward but before he reached the King he fell into an acute Distemper contracted by the dissatisfaction of his mind and died upon the way Now the Pope that Campegio might have some pretence for coming away revokes the Cause to himself at Rome And foreseeing the Marriage with Anne Bolen would be of very ill consequence to himself he plies the King with Admonitions and sometimes with Threatnings to give over his design But not being able to prevail there upon the 24th of March this year to oblige the Emperor he gave Judgment on the Queens side When the King was already divorc'd from her had declar'd his Daughter Mary Illegitimate and married the other Lady above a year since As soon as the King understood that Sentence was pronounced against him he began to hate the Pope mortally and immediately passeth an Act in which he declares himself Head of the Church of England next after Christ denies all manner of Obedience to the See of Rome and makes it death for any one to maintain the Pope's Supremacy He likewise refuseth to pay the yearly Tax which the Pope's Collector used to receive and forbids the Conveyance of any Mony to Rome under severe Penalties all which Injunctions were confirmed by the States of the Realm which they call a Parliament Francis the French King is thought to have struck a Considerable stroak in this Divorce that he might make an irreconcilable Breach between Henry and the Emperor As concerning the Tax which I mention'd the Case stands thus Ine King of England in the year 740. out of a sense of Piety made his Kingdom Tributary to the Pope as the History of those times informs us and charged every house with the payment of a peny From that time the Popes sent their Collectors thither yearly to receive this Duty which was commonly call'd Peter-pence This payment having been made by the English without any Interruption from the first Grant this Henry was the first who forbad the Continuance of it any longer I have given an account in the Fourth Book how Luther and Erasmus wrote against each other concerning the Subject of Free Will. This year the Pique between them broke out again For Luther in a Letter to a Friend takes occasion to charge Erasmus very high as if he ridiculed the Christian Religion and expos'd it to question and contempt and cites several places in his Writings to make good his Accusation He also objected that the other had an equivocal two-handed way in expressing himself and made a Tyrannical use of his Elocution And in regard he takes the liberty to play with religious Arguments at that ambiguous rate when he both can and is obliged to be more clear he ought always to be construed in the worst sense This Letter was afterwards answer'd by Erasmus and smartly too who was more sensibly concern'd for nothing than to keep up the Reputation of his own Writings About this time the Franciscans made a strange tragical piece of Work of it at Orleans in France The thing was thus The Provost's Wife of that Town had order'd in her Will to be buried without any Ceremony or noise For when any one dies in France it 's the Custom for Funeral Cryers who are hired for this purpose to go about the principal Streets in the City and call the common people together with their hand-Bells When they have done this they tell the Name and Quality of the Person deceas'd and exhorting the Company to pray to God for his Soul they let them know when and where he is to be buried When the Corps goes to the Grave the Mendicant Friers are usually invited to attend it and a great many Torches are carried before the Hearse In these Solemnities people commonly strive to out-do one another for the more expensive the Funeral is the greater Crowd there is to see and admire it But this Woman I spoke of would have none of all this Her Husband therefore who loved her entirely perform'd this part of her Will and burying her by her Father and Grandfather in the Franciscans Church presented these Gentlemen with no more than six Crowns whereas they expected a much greater Sum. Afterwards when he felled a Wood and sold it they desired him to give them some Timber but were denied They took this very heinously which with their former Disgust made them resolve to
For though he was bred and born to nothing but Gentleness and good Nature yet he was constrain'd for some time to put a force upon his Temper and act disagreeably to his Inclinations And as he was willing to hear Men discourse upon any Subject so he could not choose but be displeas'd with those who attempt any rash Alterations without consulting their Superiors whose right it is to Determine Besides those whom he had done Justice upon were of a quite different Perswasion from them Now as to their Religion the King is of opinion that whatever they have done in that was agreed by common consent but how justifiable their Tenents were he should not examine For in cases of that difficulty he was not willing to pretend to be a better Judge than others but believed there were some things to be approved and disapproved in both Communions For the nature of Man is such that if he is once allow'd to pronounce upon his own Sentiments he is in danger of falling into Error and Mistake Afterwards he endeavours to gain their good opinion more directly and confutes those Persons who say that the Germans ought to take care how they hold any Correspondence with foreign Embassadors maintaining that there was great disadvantage and slavery at the bottom of this advice For no State is so well fortify'd in it self as to be able to subsist and flourish for any considerable time without the Friendship and Alliance of its Neighbours Now there hath been a very ancient and intimate Correspondence between the Kings of France and the Princes of the Empire for both Nations are descended from the same Original and by reason of their situation and nearness they may be both a Guard and an Ornament to each other Therefore his Majesty is very much troubled when he hears of any Misunderstandings among the Germans and endeavours to his Power to make up the Breach And has often been afraid lest this disagreement in Religion should have some unfortunate consequence And since he now understands they have form'd an Association to defend their Priviledges and Honour not excluding those of a different Perswasion he hath great hopes that this Expedient will open a way for the reconciling of Opinions Being therefore acquainted with these Occurrences he was willing to send his Embassador to let them know his sense in the Case Now in regard the present State of Affairs is such that a free and general Council cannot be conven'd as yet The King thinks it most proper that all the Germans should meet in the mean time and by joynt consent pitch upon some Method for an Accommodation which may easily be effected provided things are not manag'd with obstinacy and Men do not account it a discredit to change their opinions upon Conviction and to yield to better Information If they proceed in this manner his Majesty will joyn with them and assist them in this Undertaking For the present Pope himself confess'd when the Case was moved to him by the King that Humane Traditions are not to be so rigidly insisted on but that they may be set aside when the exigency of the Times and the Peace of Christendom require it and declar'd that if the Controversie was regularly and fairly debated he would yield a great many things in compliance with the present Conjuncture and to promote a general Agreement Now if they are desirous that some learned French Divines should be present at this Conference or if they please to send any of their own Clergy into France upon this account his Majesty will be extreamly satisfy'd with it and leaves it wholly to themselves to do as they think convenient In fine he desires them that they would live amicably together and fortifie their Interest by keeping up a good Correspondence among themselves for this besides other advantages would contribute to the peace of their Country And as for his Majesty he would not assist their Enemies either with Supplies or Advice as long as they continued the same affection to him which they had hitherto shew'd In the beginning of this Book I observ'd that the Judges of the Chamber of Spire prosecuted the Protestants contrary to the Emperor's Edict The case was this These Judges were most of them Roman Catholicks and being address'd to for Justice by the Ecclesiasticks after the Emperor was return'd into Italy from the War in Austria who complain'd of the Protestants They order'd a Suit to be commenc'd against them And though the Protestants put in their Exceptions and alledg'd that the Cause was of an Ecclesiastical nature and consequently included in the Emperor's Edict who has barr'd all Process relating to Religion yet they over-rul'd these Allegations and went on in their way The Protestants therefore wrote into Italy to the Emperor complaining how they were disturb'd and procure another Mandate from him Upon this the Judges send the Emperor word that they were at a loss how to act and how to obey his Majesties Commands For the Parties often contested the nature of the Causes whether they belonged to Religion or not therefore they desire to know his Majesties Pleasure in this Case The Emperor answers their Request and gives them Authority to determine whether the Causes which come before them relate to Religion or not Being thus fortify'd they proceed briskly not only interposing in mixt Causes but in those which were purely Spiritual for besides Restitution to the Ecclesiasticks they command the Mass and all the Ceremonies and Worship of the Roman Church to be set up again Now while these things were doing it happen'd that the Elector of Saxony had occasion to go to Cadan to King Ferdinand about some other business where he complain'd how himself and his Confederates were us'd and after they had agreed those other Points which I have mention'd Ferdinand confirm'd the Imperial Edict and commanded the Pacification to be observ'd and order'd the Chamber to forbear all Prosecutions But they took no notice of this Order The Protestants therefore solemnly protested against the Jurisdiction of their Court assigning the Reasons they had to look upon them as Adversaries and refer the Dispute to Henry of Megelburg Robert Duke of Bavaria Christiern Duke of Holstein George Duke of Wirtemburg to the Senate of Auspurg and Wormes or to any other indifferent Arbitrators to determine whether the grounds of their Recusation were reasonable or not For things were come to that pass that their Council durst not speak out nor plead their Cause home for fear of disobliging the Court and coming into trouble But the Judges set aside this Recusation and declar'd it null and void as being contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Empire Afterwards the Elector of Saxony came to Vienna to King Ferdinand as hath been already related where he got a new Order against the Chamber but all to no purpose as shall be shewn in its place And because the Pacification granted by the Emperor
was to continue no longer than either till a general Council was conven'd or till the next Imperial Diet the Elector mov'd King Ferdinand that this last Clause might be omitted He also desir'd that those who profess'd the same Religion with other Protestants might enjoy the same Priviledges though they were not comprehended in the Treaty at Nuremburg and that no Prosecutions might be issu'd out against them To this Ferdinand reply'd that he could make no new Provision in this case without the Emperor's consent The Elector of Saxony reply'd that it was very hard since their Adversaries might recede from the Pacification when they pleas'd that himself and his Allies should be barr'd this Liberty The Security which was given them in the Treaty did not design without doubt to keep them in suspence and in the dark without being able so much as to know what they were to hope for or expect Besides as soon as ever a Proclamation for a Diet came out it would be look'd upon as a Signal to break the Peace and be like beating a Charge for new Disturbances from whence great Inconveniences would follow And he must add that if those of the same Religion with himself could not enjoy the benefit of the Pacification and happen'd to be proscrib'd or otherways aggreived it would be very uneasie to him and the rest of his Allies to connive at these things and desert their Friends in their Distress But the Elector gain'd nothing more of his Point by this Remonstrance only one of Ferdinand's chief Ministers reply'd that it was a long time yet before the Empire was to meet unless some great and unexpected occasion should happen and when there shall be a necessity for the holding of a Diet the present affair shall be setled by his Electoral Highness's and the Lantgrave's advice Upon this the Elector press'd this Request no farther But when he desir'd the Treaty might be ratify'd Ferdinand answer'd that he had not omitted to Command the Chamber to desist the last year pursuant to the Articles at Cadan But they told him that there were several Causes purely Secular and Civil intermixt with those that were Sacred now these were perfectly under their Jurisdiction for they did not relate to Faith and Religion but to Estates and yearly Revenues To this the Elector of Saxony reply'd that these mix'd Causes were the only reason which made them so earnest for a Pacification for though they did concern Mens Goods and Estates yet they were grounded upon Religion His Majesty may likewise be inform'd by the Princes of the Mediation the Elector of Mentz and the Palsgrave that these sort of Disputes were mention'd at the Treaty As for other Causes in which their Creed and their Consciences are only concern'd the Chamber never had any thing to do with those neither was there any necessity that himself and his Confederates should desire the Emperor to check the Judges upon such an account as this Besides long before the Pacification at Cadan the Chamber pretended that the fore-mention'd Causes were only Secular and therefore among other things there was a particular Provision made at Cadan that his Majesty should interpose his Authority to restrain that Court. After the Matter was thus discours'd at last the King yielded and promis'd to undertake that none of those Causes which his Highness and his Confederates at the Treaty at Nuremburg counted Religious should be try'd before the Chamber The French Embassadors Speech which I mention'd was answer'd by the Protestants as followeth Notwithstanding there goes various Reports concerning those Executions in France yet because his Excellency says those who suffer'd were contriving an Insurrection they could not blame the King's Proceedings since they did not tolerate such sort of Persons in their own Dominions But in regard all people have not every where the same Opinions of the establish'd Doctrins and Rites they entreat his Majesty that this Severity may not fall upon all Persons without distinction but that those may be spar'd who having laid open the Errors and Corruptions of the Times had reform'd their Creed into the same purity the Scriptures taught it and held to that Confession which themselves had made at Ausburg For it cannot be deny'd that many false and wicked Opinions have broke in upon the Church which are now very confidently maintain'd by ignorant and malitious Men upon Principles of Covetousness and Ambition Now it 's their way and they are Masters of it to forge Accusations against innocent and religious Persons that so they may exasperate Princes into rigour And since Kings and Princes are more peculiarly oblig'd to promote the Honour of God to purge the Church from Error and to check unreasonable Cruelty they earnestly beseech his most Christian Majesty that he would lay out his principal Endeavours upon so good a Work. If he pleases to do this they shall be assur'd that he hath a real regard for them which they hope may prove auspicious both to themselves and the Church What his Majesty discours'd concerning the ancient and constant Friendship between the French Kings and the Princes of Germany was wonderfully entertaining to them And they would make it their business that this Intimacy and good Correspondence might be continu'd for the future And whereas his Excellency offers to excuse the King from some Imputations they are very inclinable to gratifie him in this Point and acquiesce in his Apology desiring above all things that God would vouchsafe a general Peace to Christendom and Protect the Germans in their Liberties which were formerly gain'd at the expence of so much Blood. Now though that which his Excellency mention'd concerning an Accommodation in Religion belongs to an argument too large to be dispatch'd in a few words yet so prudent a Person as the King may easily perceive that the separation is wholly owing to the obstinacy of their Adversaries who have condemn'd all the reform'd Doctrin in a most violent manner They have desir'd nothing more for these many years than that the whole Cause might be argued before a lawful Council but the Pope and his Dependents have oppos'd this Overture with all the rigour imaginable 'T is true Clement the Seventh propos'd a Council under certain Conditions but then they were such as made it sufficiently apparent that he could not endure that Matters should be freely debated And this Pope though he promises a Council yet he will not suffer the Form and Method of it be disputed before-hand and besides he will have it conven'd out of the Territories of the Empire From whence it 's easie to conclude that there is foul play and deceit at the bottom and that nothing else is intended but to get the true Religion suppress'd by the Authority of a Council And since the calling of the Church together does not belong only to the Bishop of Rome but Kings and Princes are equally concern'd in it They beseech his Majesty to interpose so
Magistrates along with him when they were all met he pulls off his Cloke and throws it upon the ground together with the New-Testament and making these as it were Symbols of his sincerity he protests and swears That the Doctrin he had publish'd was reveal'd to him from Heaven and therefore threatens them on a terrible manner that God would never bless them if they did not consent At last they agree upon the Point and the Doctors do nothing but harangue upon Matrimony in their Pulpits for three days together Soon after he marrieth no less than three Wives one of which was the Woman I mention'd before the Relict of the famous Prophet John Mathews His Example was so well followed that they accounted the Repetition of Matrimony before they were Widowers a very commendable thing But some of the Citizens who were very much dissatisfy'd with this way giving a signal about the Town call'd all those who adher'd to the Doctrin of the Gospel into the Market-Place when they had done this they apprehend the Prophet and Knipperdoling and all the Teachers of that Perswasion When the Mobile understood this they immediately betake themselves to their Arms Rescue the Captives by force and murther about fifty of the other Party with great barbarity For they tied them to Trees and Stakes and then shot them the chief Prophet applauding their Cruelty and telling them That if they intended to do acceptable Service to God they ought to be the first in discharging at them others were killed after another manner Upon the 23d of June another Prophet starts up who was a Goldsmith who after he had conven'd the Rabble into the Market-Place tells them That it was the Will and Command of the heavenly Father that John of Leyden should be Vniversal Monarch of the World Thaâ— he should March out with a most powerful Army and slay all Kings and Princes without distinction giving Quarter to none but the Multitude who were Lovers of Justice That he should possess the Seat of his Father David till the Father requir'd him to Resign his Kingdom For now the Wicked were to be destroy'd and the Righteous to begin their Reign upon the Earth These words being spoken aloud presently John of Leyden falls upon his Knees lifting up his hands to Heaven Men and Brethren saies he I have been assur'd of this Truth a great while since yet I was not willing to divulge it my self and now you see to make it the more unquestionable the Father has made use of the Testimony of another Upon this being chosen King he immediately dissolves the Duodecimvirate and according to the custom of other Princes makes choice of some Noblemen for his own Service He likewise orders two Crowns a Scabbard a Chain and Scepter and such other Regal Ornaments to be made for him forthwith of the best Gold. Then he appoints certain days in which he would give a Publick Hearing to all those who had a mind to address themselves to him As often as he appear'd abroad he was attended with his Officers and Lords of his Houshold Two young Men rid immediately behind him He on the right hand carried a Crown and a Bible the other a drawn Sword. His principal Wife appear'd in the same State for we are to observe he had several Wives at the same time In the Market-Place there was a high Throne erected for him cover'd with Cloth of Gold. The Causes and Complaints which were brought before him usually related to Matrimony and Divorces than which nothing was more frequent insomuch that some who had liv'd together many years were then separated Now it happen'd that when the People press'd to hear Causes and stood very close in the Market-Place Knipperdoling springs out of a sudden and climbing the Crowd runs upon their Heads on his Hands and Knees and breathing in their Faces The Father saies he to each of them has sanctified thee receive the Holy Ghost Another day he leads up a dance before the King This is my custom saies he sometimes with my Concubine but now the Father has commanded me to do it in the Kings Presence But when he over-acted his part and would not give over his Majesty of Leyden took pet and went away As soon as he was gone Knipperdoling mounts the Throne and sets up for King himself but his Majesty coming by tumbles the Fellow down and lays him in Limbo for three days During the Siege these Anabaptists write a Book and publish it which they call The Restitution In this Book among other things they affirm That the Kingdom of Christ is to Commence in such a manner before the last Judgment that the Godly and the Elect shall Reign the Wicked being every where destroy'd They affirm likewise That it 's lawful for the People to turn the Magistrates out of their Office that though the Apostles had no Authority to Challenge such a Jurisdiction yet those who are the present Ministers of the Church ought to take the Sword into their own hands and new-mould the Commonwealth by force To this they added That no Person who was not a true Christian ought to be tolerated in the Church farther That no Body could be saved unless they resigned all their Fortune to the Publick Use without reserving any Property to themselves Luther and the Pope they said were false Prophets but Luther worse than the other Lastly That the Marriage of those who were not enlightned with true Faith was polluted and impure and to be accounted Fornication or rather Adultery more than any thing else These Tenents of theirs were principally oppos'd by Melancthon Justus Menius and Vrbanus Regius who publish'd very large and satisfactory Treatises upon this Subject Some few weeks after the new Prophet I mention'd before sounds a Trumpet through all the Streets and commands them to meet armed at the Porch of the Cathedral for the Enemy was to be beaten off the Town When they came to the place of Randevouz they found a Supper prepared They are ordered to sit down being about four thousand of them afterwards about a thousand others sit down who were upon Duty while the first number were at Supper The King and the Queen with their Houshold-Servants wait at the Table After they had eaten and Supper was almost done the King himself gives every one a piece of Bread with these words Take eat shew forth the Lord's death The Queen in like manner giving them a Cup Bids them shew forth the Lord's death when this was over the Prophet before-mention'd gets into the Pulpit and asks them If they would obey the Word of God When they all told him Yes It is the Command of the heavenly Father saies he that we should send out about eight and twenty Teachers of the Word who are to go to the four Quarters of the World and Publish the Doctrin which is received in this City Then he repeats the Names of his Missionaries
State and how much it will be expos'd to Misunderstandings and Tumults of the truth of this Allegation the Emperor's Edict which was then publish'd is a sufficient proof It was never their intention to plead in bar to the Jurisdiction of the Chamber in any Causes but those of Religion and they believ'd that Court could not prove the contrary upon them But they were very much troubl'd to hear from his Excellency that the Emperor had given the Chamber Authority to determine the quality of the Cause for they did believe all those Causes to be of a religious Nature and they were really such which could not be decided till the Extent of the word Religion was defin'd in a lawful Council which thing both by Letter and their Embassadors they had several times acquainted the Emperor and King Ferdinand with For this Dispute concerning the meaning and latitude of Religion is a preliminary Question and ought to be setled by the Council before other matters which relate to it are determin'd And in regard Benefices ought to be bestowed in consideration of Merit and Function They said they could not allow that those in their Dominions who were of a different Religion from themselves should enjoy the Revenues of the Church to which they had no manner of right because they were either unwilling to discharge their Office or wanted abilities to do it and since Conscience is more than ordinarily concern'd in the present case the usual Pleas of Law founded upon the right of Possession or Restitution ought not to be urg'd Moreover when the Treaty of Nuremburgh was on foot they particularly mention'd all those Suits and Difference which were then depending in the Chamber and in other Courts and represented them under the notion of Ecclesiastical Causes to the Princes of the Mediation who promis'd that they would endeavour to perswade the Emperor that they should be all exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Courts which was also promis'd by King Ferdinand at the Convention at Cadan besides it 's plain from that Clause in the Emperor's Edict which stops all Prosecutions of this nature that the Chamber of Spire has no Authority to determine the Quality of Causes And to say nothing more severe they could not choose but observe that the apparent Inclination of that Court to give Judgment against them had made a great many Persons much bolder and more contentious than they had formerly been which they were able to prove more than one way For when those of their Party moved that Court in any Cause their Suit was not only rejected but they were sent away with reproachful Language And lately the Hamburghers were commanded by them not only to restore the Clergy of their City their Goods and Estates but also to return them their old Religion and Jurisdiction back again and because they could not do this with a good Conscience they were amerced in a great Sum of Mony and therefore there needs no more Instances to let the Emperor understand what the Design of that Court is for if any Cause relates to Religion this certainly does But if the Judges are allowed to proceed in this manner the Truce serves to no purpose If the Rites and Ceremonies which were abolish'd may be lawfully restor'd by such Methods as these there will be no need of Council and yet the Emperor is pleas'd to grant that all Differences of this nature ought to be determin'd there and since their Exceptions against the Proceedings of the Court were not consider'd they were forc'd to decline the Jurisdiction of it As concerning the Persons of the Chamber there was not above one or two of the whole Bench of their Religion what Provision was made at Ratisbone for this Affair was well known it being apparent that those who were most violent against the Reformed were most acceptable to the Chamber nay a man may plainly discover how they stand affected by observing the air of their Countenances when they are trying of Causes and therefore they hope his Imperial Majesty will send them a positive Order to desist As for the Penalty which his Excellency mention'd was decreed at Ratisbone against Mal-administration that was no advantage to them Indeed if the Cause had related to Property and secular Affairs they might have had a compensation this way but matters of Religion were too weighty to be satisfied with Costs and Damages However if the Emperor is of opinion that they have intermix'd any civil Causes in their request they are willing this matter should be tried provided there may be a stop put to the Proceedings of the Chamber in the mean time Now as concerning those who came over to their Religion since the Pacification of Nuremburgh they confess'd that some few years since the Princes of the Mediation did insist at Schweenfurt that no more might be admitted into their Association which Proposition they then rejected and afterwards at the Convention at Nuremburgh they persisted in the same Opinion As to what his Excellency objects in reference to the Promises and Articles by which several of the States had engag'd themselves not to make any alteration in Religion To this the parties answer That some of them promis'd nothing others in private Treaties reserv'd this Liberty for themselves a third sort it 's true did engage themselves but it was upon the assurance which the Emperor gave them that a Council should be intimated within six Months and opened the year after But since this Assembly was delayed beyond their expectation and God had been pleas'd to give them a fuller apprehension of the true Religion they could not defer so good a Work any longer but thought it their Duty to make an open profession of that Doctrin which they were assur'd had both Truth and Piety to recommend it This the Canon-Law it self would justifie them in for from thence they had learn'd that if any Person had sworn to do a wicked Action this Oath did not oblige Besides as their Adversaries would not refuse any one who offer'd himself for a Convert so neither did they think it lawful to bar any person from coming over to themselves Therefore their earnest request to the Emperor was That the Judges might be check'd and that not only themselves but those who joyn'd them afterwards might be comprehended in the Peace For if matters should be otherwise carried and any violence should be offer'd they could not desert those they were allied to both by Vertue of their League and Religion This had been already declar'd to King Ferdinand at Vienna and that with a great deal of reason for the Cause of these later Confederates no less than their own belongs to the Cognizance of the Council But if the Judges of the Chamber will fore-stall the Hearing and hale in the business of the Council to their Court this is no less than down-right Force and Injustice against which by the Laws of Nature they are bound to defend themselves
almost the same minute went and made Luther a visit who lay very ill of the Stone which disrespect the Embassador might see if he pleas'd out of his own Lodgings Before the Bishop of Aix went upon his Employ Vergerius by the Popes Command acquainted him with the State of Germany and how he was to make his Court and salute every Person The fourth day after being the last of February the Protestants gave in their answer to Eldo That they did not question but that the Emperor would stand to the Pacification which he had engag'd himself to do several times both in his publick and private Letters but the Chamber of Spire and himself also in his Speech had advanced such an Interpretation which would not only render that Treaty less intelligible but perfectly void it and make it insignificant For the drift of his Discourse is to prove that only those Matters and Disputes are to be referr'd to Religion which are comprehended in the Edict at Wormes and in some other Decrees of the Empire and not those which are risen since and concern private Persons though they were expresly mention'd at Nuremburgh to the Princes of the Mediation but the Design of this Treaty was quite different from what his Excellency pretends For notwithstanding by the Instigation of Pope Leo the 10th the Emperor happen'd to publish his Edict at Wormes at a time when the true Faith was understood but by a very few yet afterwards that Edict as far as it related to them was suspended by several Decrees of the Empire more particularly in the Diet at Spire about eleven years since where it was agreed That the whole Controversie should be referr'd to a Council with the addition of this remarkable Clause that in the mean time all Magistrates in their respective Jurisdictions should discharge their Office in such a manner as they might be able to give a good account of their actions to God and the Emperor from whence it plainly appears that the foremention'd Edict was laid asleep so that they had no occasion to insist upon a new suspension of it at Nuremburgh For why were all Debates remitted to a lawful Council if the Edict of Wormes was always to be in force or if their Religion had always been accounted condemned But there was a wide difference between the Matter of that Edict and the Pacification at Nuremburgh for the former consider'd nothing but matter of Fact and was design'd for Prosecution the question at that time being only Whether the Edict was violated or not If a breach was prov'd then it 's likely the Chamber if the Decree of the Diet at Spire had not interpos'd might have exercis'd their Jurisdiction as in a secular affair But those things which were the occasion of that Convention and Treaty at Nuremburgh relate to Faith and Religion which beside other Proofs appears plainly from the Emperor's Letters Patents For though the Chamber had no Authority to try any Causes of this nature before yet to prevent Disturbance there was a more comprehensive Provision sign'd at Nuremburgh to make them forbear Besides it appears from the very words of the Emperor's Letters Patents that not only those Disputes which relate to matters of meer Religion were comprehended in the Treaty at Nuremburgh but all others also which are occasioned by the Change of Rites and Ceremonies and arise from Causes of a resembling nature Farther all Agreements are to be interpreted with respect to the circumstances of the thing which was the ground of the Controversie Now from the time of the Decree at Spire till the Treaty at Nuremburgh they do not remember that any of their Partty have been prosecuted or have had the least Disturbance given them by any particular Courts under the Emperor or Princes It 's true the Chamber had usurp'd an Authority in these Matters and commenc'd a Suit against some Persons for changing Religion together with the Rites and Ceremonies as also concerning Property and Estate And when there was a misunderstanding about these things they made express mention of them to the Princes of the Mediation Therefore that Treaty is to be understood to extend not only to those Points which result from the Edict of Wormes but to those also which were controverted at the very time of the Convention For otherwise what made them labour and trouble themselves at the rate they had done why were they at such Expences to remove a Grievance which was already mortifi'd by a solemn Decree of the Empire and from which they had no reason to apprehend the least inconvenience But being afraid the Chamber would occasion a Disorder in the State by commencing of Suits they agreed to a Cessation which can relate to no other Debates but those which were then the Principal Subject of the Controversie and explain'd to the Princes of the Mediation as such And whereas he alledgeth that the Emperor did not know under what Classis those Disputes were to be rang'd this seemeth improbable because that Convention was order'd on purpose to take up those Differences which unless they had been accommodated it was thought some publick Disturbances would have immediately follow'd Neither indeed it is credible that the Princes of the Mediation omitted the sending the Emperor an account of these things or that his Majesty if he disapprov'd any part of them should dissemble his dislike That the Emperor may allow this Liberty for the preservation of Peace is beyond all question and that the Peace cannot continue unless these Terms are granted they have lately prov'd And since by the Laws of the Empire no Man may take away his Neighbours Property therefore they explain'd themselves upon this Point to the Princes of the Mediation at Nuremburgh and declar'd That if the Chamber gave them any trouble for seizing upon the Fortunes of their Monks and Priests who had rejected the Doctrin and Worship of the true Religion they would look upon it as a Force and an Injury And whereas his Excellency thinks it unjust for them not to allow the Chamber to determine the nature of the Cause Whether it is Religious or Secular adding likewise That the more Reasons they had to support their Resolution the more publick they ought to make them They said they had given a sufficient Answer to this Objection before and thought it would have been urg'd no more upon them For though they are not afraid to make their Defence in open Court nay they are very desirous the whole Cause might be tried before equal Judges yet they could not depart from that Order which the Emperor had made in the present Case by which they were not remitted to the Judgment of the Chamber but all Process was stopp'd by his Imperial Prohibition with this Proviso That if any Person acted to the contrary his Majesty or his Embassador was to be acquainted with it As touching the Chamber it was easie for them to answer why they could not admit
so small a Matter we would not expose our selves to so bitter Hatred to so much Labour Care and Danger Besides waving all Dangers if the daily Charges we are at in maintaining this Cause were compared with the Rents of these Monasteries it will soon appear how far the one comes short of the other and yet these Charges we have now born above Fifteen Years whilst our Dangers daily encrease with our Expences Let any Man also but consider the restless Endeavours and implacable Hatred of our Adversaries and then what Prince in the World can be thought so silly and inconsiderate as to put his whole Fortune to the risk for Goods of so small a value Wherefore we humbly beseech the Emperor not to entertain any such Suspicion of us for we preferr his Friendship and the publick Peace before all worldly Enjoyments Those of our Adversaries in like manner who are acquainted with the State of our Dominions and Affairs without doubt entertain no such Suspicion of us for they know that the least part of these Revenues accrue to us Now the chief and only Cause why with so much Burthen and Danger we profess this Doctrine is because God requires it of us that we should profess the Name and Gospel of his Son For he commands us to fly from all false and idolatrous Worship and by no means to approve the Cruelty of those who persecute the true Religion Now will we speak of the Possessions of Monasteries Answer the Complaints of our Adversaries and give the Reason why the Houses and Rents of Monks and Friars are converted into another Use When the Light of the Gospel began to shine in Germany and the Vices and Errors of Men were detected and condemned many and especially the more learned of their own Accord forsook that Pharisaical kind of Life and some of them that they might prosecute their Studies and follow some other honest Course of Life demanded some Allowance in Money Now this Change happening not only amongst us but also in the Monasteries of our Adversaries in all places where Monks and Friars remained we appointed good Men to inspect and censure false Doctrine and Worship For those also who chose rather to stay than to remove we provided necessary Sustenance and took particular Care that the Aged and Sick should want for nothing there being still some of these Monasteries within our Territories It was a Duty incumbent upon us indeed as Magistrates when once we knew the Truth to abolish false Religion and to take care that these Revenues should not be dissipated especially when the Monks in all places fell away and some of them had thoughts of appropriating the same to their own private Uses Besides there were none to be found in Monasteries fit to labour the Land or to mind domestick Affairs So then their State was changed for we thought it not fit to send for Monks and Friars from other places to put in their room least that might disturb our Churches and therefore we converted good part of their Revenues to pious Uses for maintenance of the Ministers of the Church free Schools and those that are afflicted with Poverty or Sickness And upon these Accounts the Revenues of Monasteries are somewhat impared but what is over and above is kept to be distributed amongst Priests whose Living are too small and poor young Scholars For the state of the Time is such now that by all means Ways ought to be thought on for educating Youth who may prove hereafter fit Instruments to serve both in Church and State. What more remains of these Goods we are ready to assign them to pious and publick Uses according to the Determination of a lawful Council when such shall be or of an Assembly of the Empire For to this Use ought the Goods of the Church to be applied as both the Holy Scripture and the Ancient Canons and Councils do testify Which being so we reciprocally do desire That our Adversaries will suffer those Goods to be applied to the like Uses For now in most Cities the Stipends of the Ministers of Parishes are either none at all or at least very inconsiderable and yet in the mean time the Bishops and other Prelates who enjoy these Possessions discharge no Office neither in Churches nor Schools Wherefore to the great Prejudice of the State publick Schools run daily more and more into Decay Therefore as we said before some Remedy must be found to heal this Wound God made Mankind and appointed Magistrates for that end that in such Assemblies Men should learn the true Knowledge of himself And therefore it is the part of Kings and Princes to take care that so necessary Duties should be performed We for our parts are ready to give Security that within our Territories these Possessions shall be applied to a right and lawful Use provided our Adversaries do the same and that 's but reason since we see idle and debauched Men that are of no use but indeed a Burthen to the State squandering away those Revenues in Luxury and Riot And would to God the Emperor knew all of our Adversaries how that in those places within their Territories where our Churches have yearly Revenues they receive them and keep them for their own Use And when we demand what belongs to us and give them mutually Leave to receive the Rents of their Churches within our Bounds they reject the Offer and are therein supported by the Imperial Chamber However it is a common Proverb That Equality is the Nurse of Peace and if they laid to Heart the Peace and Tranquility of Germany they would not certainly act in the manner they do But the Truth is they spare not their own Churches imposing and demanding new Dues of them And because they banish learned Preachers out of their Countries many Parishes are destitute and solitary and the Church Revenues squandered away Again they so exhaust the Monasteries that in some places it is a Proverb amongst the Monks That there is nothing at all left to them but the Bells to Ring and the Choire to Sing in which gives occasion to Licentiousness and threatens Religion sometime or other with a fatal blow It would be really very acceptable to us if the Emperor would examine the whole matter and dilligently inquire Where it is that the Ministers of the Church are most civilly and kindly used Schools best ordered the Functions and Ministry of the Church most decently performed whether in our Territories or amongst our Adversaries If the Emperor would give himself this trouble we needed not make any Apology to justifie and defend the matter of Fact for the thing it self would speak in our behalf and move him to set about a true Reformation of the Church But now that Cruelty is practised that harmless Priests are put to Death and that there are no limits set to Severity it will come to pass that fit Men being removed out of the way gross Barbarity will ensue and
Emperor 's great Grandfather Philip the Grandfather of Charles Lowis Earl of Flanders Philip's Grandfather by the Mother side all whom the Emperor seemed now to have revenged nor were they ever brought so under as at this time Afterwards on the Eighteenth of April the Emperor wrote to the Elector of Saxony and Lantgrave That he had discoursed his Brother Ferdinand King of the Romans amongst other things about the State of Germany but especially the Difference concerning Religion which he wished were composed For as he had omitted nothing in time past that might have effected that so was he still in the same Mind provided they acknowledged this his Zeal and abused it not but made that desire of Peace which they had long pretended in Words and Promises appear now at length in Reality and Effect That for many Years past he had had frequent and very condescending Treaties with them but hitherto without any Success That all things now seemed to tend to the dissolution of the Government and great Disturbance of all the States of the Empire if some healing Course were not speedily taken That however though this was the present Case yet of his wonted Goodness he was willing to assign them another Diet to be held at Spire the Sixth of June Or if the Plague or Contagion did not allow it at such place as his Brother King Ferdinand should appoint there to treat of the Means how so great Danger as hung over Germany might be prevented and wholly avoided That in the mean time he hoped they and their Confederates would prize this Lenity of his somewhat more than hitherto they had done and that they would so carry themselves in all Consultations and Debates that he himself his Brother King Ferdinand and the other obedient Princes might plainly see that they were more inclined to Peace and Quietness than to Strife and Dissention That therefore they should come in Person to the place appointed by the Day prefix'd and let nothing but Sickness hinder them in which case they should send some of their intimate Counsellors Men that loved Peace were fit for Business and fully acquainted with their Minds That they should intimate the same to their Confederates that they also might be present at the Day That his Brother King Ferdinand would be there from whom they might expect a more ample Declaration of his Will and Pleasure and of the Effect of the Ambassy they sent to him That therefore they should so frame themselves for the Preservation both of themselves and Country that all matter of Dissention being removed they might to better Purpose consult of the other Affairs of the Empire That after all they needed not to fear any Danger for that he assured them upon his Royal Word and gave them the benefit of the Peace of Nurimberg nor would he suffer any Man to act to the contrary yet so that they reciprocally should not offend others To these Letters they answer May the Ninth That they return his Majesty their hearty Thanks for his good Inclinations to follow peaceful Counsels That as to the Admonition he gives them that they should acknowledge his Zeal and not abuse it there was no Cause said they that he should entertain any other Thoughts of them or their Confederates for that there was nothing dearer to them than Peace but why no Reconciliation had been hitherto made it was not to be imputed to them but to the greatness of the Cause and their Adversaries who would admit of no Explanation of their Doctrine That now they were very willing to obey his Majesty and be present at the Day appointed But because they would not tire out the King with needless Labour and Toil they thought fit to send their Mind in Writing Which was That his Majesty knew that from the very first Rise of this Dissention after much Debate in the Diets of the Empire it was looked upon by all to be the only proper Expedient that a lawful General Council should be called or a National Synod of Germany But when because of the shortness of time that way seemed not so convenient to others a future Conference was moved at Francfort and accordingly a Decree made That since this Matter was difficult and weighty whereon Mens Salvation did depend it would not be soon dispatched if they would effectually set about it and that therefore it would prove a hard Task not only to King Ferdinand but also to them and their Associates to attempt the Matter before a Conference were first had and the way prepared for it That upon this Consideration they thought it the best Course at present which was liked of by all at Francfort That if a National Council of Germany could not be had a Conference should be appointed for that in their Judgment a better way then that could not be found as they had also signified to the Count of Nuenar But that for themselves to come without the Advice and Consent of their Confederates they would not That again the time assigned betwixt and that Day was so short that hardly could their Confederates be called together and consult of the Matter That those who lived more remote could hardly with much adoe be present which therefore they acquainted him with that he might know their Thoughts That though it was so yet since his Majesty assured them that King Ferdinand would be there they would send thither their Deputies and write to their Confederates to do the like But on this Condition still that if nothing were done That then they might be free to take their other Courses from which they could not depart without the Consent of their Confederates That they would also give Instructions to their Deputies to direct all their Consultations to a peaceable Reconciliation as much as they could without offending God and their own Consciences and to prepare the Way as far as in them lay to an entire Agreement But that they hoped his Majesty would command that the Holy Scripture should bear the greatest Sway in all the Proceedings and that when their Adversaries deviated therefrom they should be made to stick to their Rule That when Matters were brought under Agitation if any Hopes of Success appeared they would not fail to come in Person That after all they prayed that the safe Conduct his Majesty promised might be extended to their Divines as well as Deputies since they were the Parties chiefly concerned in the Causes and that he would be pleased to let them know what his Pleasure was therein We mentioned Cardinal Farnese before He waited on the Emperor from Paris to Flanders being a Youth hardly of Mans Years and it was said that the Emperor was displeased that the Pope had not sent a grave Man of Age and Experience When therefore the matter of Religion and of the Turkish War came under Deliberation and Granvell had spoken his Mind Farnese at length in Presence of the Emperor
to this our Profession nor do we perform so much indeed as we ought and wish we did But the same was also the Complaint of the Prophets and Apostles whilst they were in the Flesh and we shall enjoy that Happiness at length when being delivered from this sinful Body as out of a Prison we shall be advanced to a State equal to the Angels The thing we demand a Council for is that our Churches Plea may be heard openly that your Doctrine contrary to Christ's Doctrine may be condemned and that Men being reclaimed from it may know and embrace the true Worship of God. Now that you object to us the Crime of Sedition and Disobedience it is false even by the Testimony of the States of the Empire For our Princes have been both obedient to the Emperor and ready also when called to go either to War or to the Diets of the Empire But if you reproach us with that because we submit not to the Emperor's Edicts which condemn our Religion we rejoice and give God also Thanks that therein we are not Obedient For what belongs to God alone is not to be given to Caesar who ought and does hold all of God. God hath indeed set the Emperor over Kingdoms and Provinces but he alone will govern his Church by his own Word nor does he allow any to share with him in that Honour The Emperor hath more than enough to do in governing the State which is the Office God hath allotted him and confined him within those Limits But if he stretches his Authority farther he then invades God's Property and Jurisdiction Amongst other things Henry Duke of Brunswick alledged in his invective Papers That Luther had raised this Tragedy of Religion at the Instigation of Duke Frederick who was vexed that Albert the Archbishop of Mentz should have the Bishoprick of Magdeburg Luther therefore answering that This Calumny saith he was by the Archbishop of Mentz suggested to Duke Henry and because he pretendeth not to know what no Man knows better I 'll now lay open the Cause and Original of these Revolutions In the Year of our Lord 1517. John Tetzel a Dominican carried about Indulgences to sell in Germany Now this same Tetzel the Emperor Maximilian had once condemned to die and at Inspruck ordered him to be thrown into the River but at the Intercession of Duke Frederick who happened to be there at that time he escaped This Man I say amongst other things taught that he had so great Power from the Pope That if a Man had even defloured the Virgin Mary and got her with Child he could pardon the Crime for Money Besides he pardoned not only Sins already committed but such also as should be committed in time to come And not long after came forth a Book with the Arms of the Archbishop Albert wherein the Collectors were enjoined most carefully to preach up to the People the Virtue and Efficacy of Indulgences wherefore it came to be known that Tetzel was hired by Archbishop Albert to make such Declamations for he had been lately created Archbishop of Mentz on Condition that he himself should be at the Charges of procuring his Pall from Rome For Three Bishops of that City had died within a short space of Time Bertolde James and Vriel and it was too heavy a Burthen for the Chapter to be at so vast a Charge and so often For that Pall is said to cost almost Thirty Thousand Florins before it be brought Home so well knows the Pope how to sell his Cloth and this Money was advanced by the Merchants of Ausburg So that for Reimbursment of the same Albert bethought himself of this Device which was allowed by the Pope on Condition that one half of the Money raised should be sent to Rome for the building of St. Peter's Church But I was ignorant of all these things at that time and therefore wrote a very submissive Letter to the Archbishop of Mentz exhorting him to restrain those Preachers but he made no Answer Having made Application also to the Bishop of Brandenburg he advised me to desist and not to run my self into Danger Afterwards I emitted some Positions contrary to the Tetzelian Doctrine which within few Days slew all over Germany and were greedily read by most Men For the Indulgences were a common grievance especially those that Tetzel taught And Because there was no Bishop nor Doctor neither that offered to oppose this Abuse since Tetzel frightned them with the Thunder of Rome My Name began to be talked of that there was one Man at length to be found in the World who durst speak against it But I had rather have been without that Applause nor indeed did I rightly understand at that time what the Name of Indulgences meant This is the Original and first Cause of the Troubles which Duke Frederick did not raise but the Archbishop of Mentz by means of Tetzel his Emissary and Hucster Wherefore he must e'en thank himself if any thing grate him now Another cause of the Commotions was given by the Holy Father Leo X. when he thundered out Curses and Excommunication against me and in all places Men so crowed over me that the unlearnedest Dunce of 'em all was for whetting his Pen upon me The truth is I thought at first that the Pope would have absolved me and condemned Tetzel because the Canon Law was on my side which plainly teaches That Souls are not delivered out of Purgatory by Indulgences But Good God! whilst I expected glad Tidings from Rome I was struck down with a Thunderbolt and condemned as the wickedest of all Men living Then I thought it time to defend what I had done and publish several Books for that purpose so that at long run the Matter came to be stated in the Diet of the Empire Thus ye see how a single Thread of an Archiepiscopal Cloak hath drawn after it so much Disturbance and is now grown so great and twisted so hard that his Holiness is in danger to be hanged with it Which being so let them e'en lay their Hand upon their Breast and blame themselves who have acted so impudently and saucily for my part I sit still and laugh in my sleeve For he that dwelleth in Heaven hath smitten them and had them in derision being unwilling that Ungodliness should reign any longer but that his People should be brought out of that Egyptian Darkness into the clear Light and joyful sight of the Sun. Now this Pall that hath been once and again mentioned is given only to Archbishops and as a singular Favour to some few Bishops as to the Bishop of Bamberg in Germany for one This is the Ceremony of making it On the day of the Virgin St. Agnes which is the One and twentieth of January when in the Mass that is said in St. Agnes Church in Rome they come to the words Agnus Dei qui tollis c. Two white Lambs are laid upon the
Thus all her Furniture and Goods being in haste pack'd up she departed in a hurry under the Conduct and Convoy of some Turkish Officers and Souldiers and then September the Second the Grand Seignior with his two Sons made his entry into Buda where in the Cathedral Church hallowed after their manner he gave God Thanks for his good Success and then returned into the Camp from whence having put Garrisons into Buda and Pest he retreated homewards with the rest of his Army and upon his March set at Liberty Alaski whom he had left Prisoner at Belgrade because of the Apprehension of Fregoso and Rink For the French King being exceedingly incensed at that Fact had by his Ambassador Paulain acquainted Solyman with the whole matter When the Diet at Ratisbone was over the Emperor went immediately into Italy and had an interview with the Pope at Luke whilst the Army he had raised of Germans Italians and Spaniards were putting on Board the Ships But because Winter now approached the Pope essayed to divert him from the expedition Nevertheless though he had notice of the overthrow in Hungary he was resolved to go that he might give the Turk a Diversion elsewhere so that setting Sail from Porto Venere he took his Course by Corsica Majorca and Minorca and on the Twenty-third of October arrived before Algiers a Sea-Port Town in Barbary His Army consisted of Two and twenty thousand Foot and somewhat more than a Thousand Horse The Van consisting of Spaniards was commanded by Ferrante Gonzaga Viceroy of Sicily the main Body being Germans by the Emperor himself and the Reserve who were Italians and Knights of Rhodes by Camillo Colonna That Day the Emperor arrived and next Day after the Weather was fair and the Sea calm but on the Third Day a great Storm arising with continual Rains hindered all Action so that the Emperor having lost many Ships his Guns and all his Ammunition and Provisions besides some Thousands of his Men was forced to depart without effecting any thing and to come again to Spain in the Month of November Thus went our Affairs to wrack both by Sea and Land in Africa as well as Europe This was likewise a fatal Year to Germany by reason of the Plague which raged especially along the Rhine there died of it amongst others at Strasburg one Capito and at Basile Simon Gryney both Men of extraordinary Learning the former by Profession a Divine and the other a Philosopher but a great Student also in Divinity The Emperor upon his leaving of Germany employed Frederick Prince Palatine to Negotiate the Restitution of Guelderland with the Duke of Cleve by the Mediation of the Princes Electors These sent Agents to the Duke to admonish him both of his own private danger and of the publick Disorders he might be the occasion of by standing it out too stiffly He on the other hand alledged That he was the next lawful Heir and that he had entered by fair means into Possession but however was willing to submit his Right and Title to a fair Trial at Law and that therefore he earnestly begg'd of them that they would perswade the Emperor to Equity and not suffer any Force or Violence to be used against him Upon the Emperor's departure out of Italy he left Granvell there that he might both sollicite the Pope about a Council and settle the State of Siena which was all in fermentation with Factions and Seditions When the News of the disaster in Africa was brought into France in December following it occasion'd open rejoicing for most Men were vexed at the Murther of Fregoso and Rink and said That now was the time to revenge them King Ferdinand after his bad Success called a Convention of his States at Prague the chief City of Bohemia There at length amongst other things the Nobility of Austria on the Thirteenth of December present a Petition to the King and in the first place to insinuate into his Favour they offer to employ their Lives and Fortunes in defence of his Honour and Dignity Then they deplore the sad State of the publick and their own Condition who had the Turk a most cruel Enemy and a Conqueror too so near them Wherefore said they it was high time to look out for Remedies and especially that the Wrath of God might be appeased who being offended with the Sins of Men plagued them with so great a Judgment For that in the whole Body politick there was nothing pure nor sound that all Discipline both publick and private was laid aside which was the Source of their common Evils but that the contempt of the Word of God was the chief Cause why he so scourged and afflicted them For both Sacred and Profane Histories inform us say they that God hath many times severely punished most flourishing Kingdom 〈◊〉 for those lighter Sins which sprug from our Nature and Dispositions but for false Worship and the Contempt of his Word The Jewish Nation was led away Captive into Assyria and Babylon for despising the Prophets and devising a new Religion and Worship to themselves At length they were utterly cut off and Jerusalem destroyed for their Crucifying of the Son of God. Those most flourishing Empires in former times the Babylonish Persian and Grecian now oppressed by the Turks have for the same Causes so lost their Religion Laws Goverment and Dignity that hardly any Print of them remains at this day and whilst partly they rejected and partly loathed the Blessings of God they have fallen into horrible Darkness and most ignominious Slavery Nor did all this change come of a sudden for the Turks waged War for the space of Six hundred Years and more before they subdued Greece which happened then at length when after so many Invitations and Admonitions they would not mend their Manners but added Sin to Sin and Transgression Now if a Man should compare those Kingdoms formerly so splendid and powerful wherein so many famous Wits flourished with that barbarous and brutish Monarchy of the Turks he would find that since the Flood a sadder Calamity never happened But if such powerful People were not able to resist so weak a Nation as the Turks were in the beginning God being pleased so to punish their Sins What are we to expect who are in the same fault indeed but in a far worse condition since we have to do with an Enemy much more powerful than we We see how God plagues us especially in these parts with War Pestilence and Famine The most cruel Enemy hath lately seized Buda the Capital City of the Realm Fire hath raged through Bohemia and what miseries have we not suffered now these Sixteen Years How much Blood hath there been spilt and how many Thousand Souls carried away into Slavery Now is the Power of the Turk grown to such an height that he lifts up his Head above all other Kings and Potentates And because he obtaineth almost continual Victories
Milan Philip made King of Spain The Emperor and King of England make a League against the French King. The Pope writes to the Clergy of the Cathedral of Cologne and animates them The French King takes Landrecy a small Town from the Emperor A Diet is held at Spire where the French King is so grievously accused that his Herald was dismissed with very rough Language There the Protestants lay most enormous Crimes to the Charge of Henry Duke of Brunswick There also the Duke of Savoy by his Ambassadors again accuses the French King. The Speech which the French Ambassadors were to have made in the Assembly of all the States at Spire is printed and published In the same Diet also an accord was made betwixt the Emperor King Ferdinand and the Duke of Saxony The States of the Empire vote the Emperor Money against the French King. Bulloign is besieged by the English The Town of Landrecy is taken A panick fear at Paris The Emperor makes Peace with the King of France at Soissons and the Conditions of the Peace are related WHEN the War was not hot on all Hands August the Twenty-sixth the Pope sent Legates Mediators Cardinal Michael Bishop of Viseo a Portugese to the Emperor and Cardinal James Sadoleto to the French King to intercede with them that they would sacrifice their private Injuries to the publick Good and set their Minds in Peace He sent Legates also to the Council at Trent The Emperor made Answer to the Legate of Viseo and wrote to the Pope much to the same purpose as he did in the Letter we mentioned before and therefore again moved him to declare himself the Enemy of France For that his Holiness had often protested That he would severely punish him that should violate a Truce or make a League with the Turk That that was the only solid way of settling the Peace of Christendom With this Letter he dismissed the Legate on the Eighteenth of October Because the Duke of Longueville and Martin Van Rossem had raised an Army in the Territories of the Duke of Cleve as has been mentioned before the Imperialists under the command of the Prince of Orange invade the Country of Juliers put all to Fire and Sword and upon Composition take Duren the chief Town in these Parts For the Duke of Cleve had succeeded to the Principalities of Juliers and Mons in Right of his Mother At the same time also the Imperial Army having done no Action in Hungary only in vain attempted the Siege of Pest returned Home but much weakened by the Plague that had swept away many Thousands of them Maurice Duke of Saxony served as a Voluntier in this War being a Youth of about Sixteen Years of Age who having one Day gone abroad out of the Camp with one Man only to wait upon him met accidentally and engaged some Turks where he had his Horse shot under him The Gentleman who as I told you waited on him covered him with his Body and defended him till some Horse came in to their Relief aad saved the Prince So that to save his Life he lost his own for being brought into the Camp full of Wounds he died not long after This was the issue of the Hungarian War whither the Pope had sent Three thousand Foot under the Command of Alexander Vitellio About this time a hot War broke out betwixt England and Scotland upon occasion that the Year before the King of Scots having promised to meet his Uncle the King of England at York to treat about their Borders had been disswaded by his Mother and many of the Nobility and so did not come But the Scots about the beginning of December this Year had a great defeat and many of their Nobility were taken in Battle and that of their own accord too because they dispised their General as being a Man of inferior Birth and could not endure to be Commanded by him This the King laid so much to Heart that returning Home he died of Grief the Twelfth of December after his Queen being brought to Bed of his Daughter Mary but Eight Days before which was a thing that also encreased his Melancholy seeing he had no Male-Issue living for the Year before he had lost Two Sons in two several places within the space of Twenty-four Hours His Queen was Mary the Daughter of Claude Duke of Guise of the Family of Lorrain The Scots being in this distress the French King sent them a supply of Men and Artillery After the Death of the King the Administration of the Government was put into the Hands of James Hamilton Earl of Arran the King's Cousin twice removed Next to him in power was the Cardinal of St. Andrews one much addicted to the Interest of France We have spoken before the Duke Henry of Saxony who entered into the Protestant League both in his own and Son Maurice's Name But after his Death Duke Maurice being called on upon that account made Answer That his Father could not bind for him nor was he tied by his Obligation Henry Duke of Brunswick being forced to fly his Country as was said before brings his Action against the Duke of Saxony the Lantgrace and Confederates before the Imperial Chamber who being afterwards cited to appear in the Month of December declined that Writ and Judicature in all Causes whatsoever and by their Agents under publick Intimation thereof protesting at the same time that they did not refuse a lawful and ordinary Jurisdiction but excepted against the Judges who were of a different Religion who adhered to the Decree of Ausburg made Twelve Years before and approved it upon Oath who for that reason were at great variance with them and bore malice against them who looked upon them as Hereticks thinking that Justice was not to be administred unto them and who had many times given manifest indications of this their prejudice and aversion It had been decreed in the Diet of Ratisbone that in the Month of January this Year the Imperial Chamber should be reformed To this Decree the Protestants assented provided Men of their perswasion might be admitted to that Bench which the Emperor granted to them as we said before and King Ferdinand afterward renewed in the Diet of Spire appointing that Reformation to be made in the Month of June whereby he had obtained Supplies from them for the Turkish War. For unless that were done they publickly then protested That they would not only contribute no more to the Charges of the Chamber but also not obey the Orders of that Court. Since therefore nothing had as yet been done in that matter they sent Agents as I told you with Instructions to decline and protest against the Judicature But the Judges of the Imperial Chamber in a publick Writing afterward rejected their declinatory Protestation It was decreed in the late Diet of Nurimberg That because of the Turkish War the States should assemble there again on the
intervals though he did not see them that they should presently fly for their lives And at the same instant two of those who had betaken themselves to Mus come and having got notice of the Enemies approach advise the Minister of the Church and the rest of those few Guards that as we said were left with the Women to be gone having shewed them a steep way through the Wood by which they might escape all danger in their flight Hardly were these gone when the raging Soldiers came in shouting and making a heavy noise and with drawn Swords preparing for the butchâ—ry However at that time they forbear to kill but having committed many insolencies and robbed the poor things of all their Money and Provisions they carry them away Prisoners They had purposed to have used them more basely but a Captain of Horse prevented it who by chance coming in threatned them and commanded them to march streight to Meinier so that they proceeded no farther but leaving the Women there who were about five hundred in number they carry off the Cattel and Booty In the mean time Meinier came to Merindole and finding it forsaken by the Inhabitants â—he plunders and sets it on fire which was ushered in by a very cruel action for having found there one single Youth he commands him to be tied to an Olive-tree and there shot to death He marches next to Cabriere and begins to batter the Town but by the mediation of Captain Poulain he perswades the Towns people upon promise of indempnity to open the Gates which being done and the Soldiers let in after a little pause all were put to the Sword without respect to Age or Sex. Many fled to the Church others to other places and some into the Wine-Cellar of the Castle but being halled out into a Meadow and stript naked they were all put to the Sword not only the Men but also the Women and many of these with Child too Meinier also shuts up about forty Women in a Barn full of Hay and Straw and then sets it on fire and after that the poor creatures having attempted but in vain to smother the fire with their Cloaths which for that end they had pull'd off betook themselves to the great Window at which the Hay is commonly pitched up into the Barn with a purpose to leap down from thence they were kept in with Pikes and Spears so that all of them perished in the flames and this happened the twentieth of April Meinier after this sends part of his Forces to besiege the Town of Coste but when they were just upon their march those were found who as we said a little before had fled into the Wine-Cellar of the Castle a noise being thereupon raised as if there had been some ambush laid the Soldiers are recalled who put every Man of them to the Sword. The number of the slain as well in the Town as abroad in the Fields amounted to Eight hundred The young Infants which survived the fury were for the most part rebaptized by the Enemy Affairs thus dispatched at Cabriere the Forces are sent to Coste The Lord of that Town had transacted before-hand with the Inhabitants that they should carry their Arms into the Castle and in four places make breaches in their Walls which if they did he promises them that he would use his interest which he knew could easily prevail with Meinier that they should receive no damage Being over-perswaded they obey and he departs with a purpose seemingly to treat and intercede for them but he was not gone far before the Soldiers met him who nevertheless proceeded in their march and attacked the place At first onset they did but little but next day they more briskly renew the assault and having burnt all the Suburbs about they easily become Masters of the place and the rather that the Night before most had deserted the Town and fled having got down over the Walls by Ropes After the victorious had put all that stood in their way to Fire and Sword they run into a Garden adjoyning the Castle and there satiate their Lust upon the Women and young Girls promiscuously who in great fear and consternation had fled thither and for a Day and Night's time that they kept them shut up there so inhumanly and barbarously they used them that the big belly'd Women and younger Girls shortly after died of it In the mean time the Merindolanes and many others who wandered with them over the Woods and Rocks being taken were either sent to the Galleys or put to death and many also were starved Not far also from the Town of Mus we mentioned before some five and twenty Men had got into a Cave and kept lurking there but being betrayed all of them were either smothered with smoak or burnt so that no kind of cruelty was omitted Some however that had escaped this butchery got to Geneva and the places thereabouts Now when the News of this was brought into Germany many were highly offended thereat and the Swizers who are not of the Popish Religion interceded with the French King that he would be merciful to those who had fled their Countrey But the King made them answer that he had just cause for what he had done and that what he did within his own Territories and how he punished the guilty concerned them no more to know than it did him what was done amongst them The Year before the Waldenses had sent the King a Confession of their Faith in Writing thereby to clear their innocence And the Heads of their Doctrine are Of God the Father Creator of all things Of the Son the Mediator and Advocate for Mankind Of the Holy Ghost the Comforter and Teacher of Truth Of the Church which they say is the Congregation of all the Elect and has Jesus Christ for the Head. Of the Ministers of the Church who they say are to be turned out if they perform not their Duty Of the Magistrate whom they confess to be God's Minister for protecting the Good and punishing the Bad that not only Honour but also Tribute and Custom is due to them according to the example of Christ who himself payed Custom Of Baptism which they say is an external and invisible Sign which represents to us both the renewing of the Spirit and the mortification of the Members Of the Lord's Supper which they say is a giving of thanks and commemoration of the benefits received by Christ. Of Matrimony which being a holy thing and instituted by God they think ought not to be denyed to any Of Good Works which they teach are to be done and practised as the Holy Scriptures declare Of false Doctrines which because they lead us away from the true Worship they say ought to be avoided In short they alledge the Old and New Testament for the Rule of their Faith and profess to believe all that is contained in the
great grief to them to find in his Majesty's Letters that he complained of some who did not do their duty and were disobedient and disloyal but they hoped still that none of their Religion was any way guilty of so hainous a crime nor was it our fault say they that differences about Religion are not ended for when in the Diet of Ratisbonne five years since some Points were agreed upon and the question put by your Majesty to the States whether they would have them to pass into a Law or not you may remember Dread Sir that we and many others gave our assent which was in all likelihood a very good beginning of an accommodation but that others by the suggestions of the Pope refused and referred all to Rome there was no more done neither in other Diets afterwards through the opposition of our adversaries who not only did not approve of the Conference your Majesty appointed a Year ago at Worms but struck out also of the Decree all the words relating thereunto We make no doubt neither but that your Majesty has been informed by the Papers we exhibited of the reasons why the last Conference broke up and how we are not to be blamed for it How desirous also of agreement were they whom your Majesty appointed to be Conferrors were there nothing else to show it may sufficiently appear from this that the point of Justification agreed upon five years since was by them stoutly impugned again nor would they allow it to be adjusted What our wishes are and how very desirous we are of peace God Almighty knows from whom in our daily Prayers we beg it in our Churches But since the last Diet of Ratisbonne our adversaries have not admitted of any Treaty but referred all to the Pope whose Votaries they are and to the Council Now it is the Pope's design by force and a kind of high hand to retain the Errors which have occasioned these divisions in the Church and indeed he so orders all things that we cannot refer our cause to his decision whence it is apparent enough that they do us wrong who blame us still that our divisions are not healed besides it is not kindly done to accuse some of robbing the Church under a pretext of Religion for your Majesty knows very well by the late years transactions and the cause has been often heard before you why the Protestant Confederates could no longer suffer that Monastick Life which was so extreamly degenerated within their Dominions but converted into better uses the Revenues belonging unto it But our adversaries when possessed of the Goods of the Church are so utterly careless of its concerns that in many places of their Dominions there are either no Ministers at all or such as are 〈◊〉 for nothing more unfit either in regard of their Learning or of their Lives and Conversation It is well enough known also how they order Schools and what care they take of the Poor Nor is it to any purpose to mention how they hook in to themselves and accumulate the Revenues of several Churches that nothing may be wanting to their Luxury and Voluptuousness Wherefore though some perhaps of our Profession do not in all things rightly dispense the Revenues of the Church yet that is not at all to be compared to those things which now for many Ages they have committed so that the thing itself calls for a Remedy to wit that these Revenues be distributed according to the Word of God and the Decrees of the Primitive Church to which we are indeed most willing to contribute our endeavours Besides your Majesty hath made Decrees both at Ratisbonne and lately at Spire how for the publick peace these Goods ought to be disposed of for if there be any that have not observed a just measure therein we make no doubt but if they be brought to a tryal for it and have a fair hearing they 'l willingly submit to an equitable sentence and give no occasion that Germany should therefore be wasted and ruined by an intestine War. It is objected to those of our perswasion that they have subverted the administration of Justice but you are not ignorant Great Sir why they complained of the Judges of the Imperial Chamber and how earnestly they have sued for a Reformation of that Judicature which though it hath been often promised yet was never as yet accomplished And therefore for peace-sake you lately turned them out of Commission at Spire and prescribed a manner how the Chamber should hereafter be established This Regulation we also approved and in the other Diet of Wormes declared ourselves ready to submit to its Jurisdiction But our adversaries as your Majesty well knows constantly refused and had rather have no Justice at all at their door then all the blame ought to lye for if matters were carried in the manner your Majesty prescribed which is the thing we chiefly desire and accordingly have given Instructions to our Deputies in this Diet of Ratisbonne there is no doubt but that they who think that our Brethren have offended against the Decrees of Ratisbonne and Spire might have right and justice done them For effecting of that we offer our endeavours nor will we aid or abbet any that are refractory and regardless of their duty We have never discovered neither any of our party that aspired to your Majesty's dignity attempted to oppress others or bragg'd and threatened as if they intended open force And indeed we cannot but think that such things are frequently suggested to your Majesty by the Pope and his Ministers for the hatred they bear to our Religion However we presume that your Majesty has had proofs oftener than once of our love and fidelity to your Interests in those Wars we engaged in against Foreigners and would to God that he who now exasperates your Majesty against us had been always as true to you as we have been some Wars then certainly had never been made or had been ended much sooner than they were Now how these men behaved themselves towards your Majesty in these Seditions and Wars that broke out in Germany since you were Emperour and then how freely those of our perswasion sent in their Supplies against the Turk is every where known but more especially in your Provinces of Austria Since we make no doubt then that those States are clear of the Crimes they are charged with before your Majesty and that if they were brought to a fair tryal they could make their innocence appear to you and the whole World we most earnestly beseech your most gracious Majesty the Father of our Countrey by all that is sacred and by the safety and preservation of Germany that you would desist from those so great Preparations and bring them against whom you are so grievously informed to a fair tryal in the ancient manner observed by your Predecessours which we hope your Majesty will never recede from If you 'l be pleased to do so we are very
Protestants send Ambassadors to the Kings of England and France who as has been said had lately made Peace to sollicite them for Succours In the mean time after that the Duke of Saxony and Landgrave had written privately to the Emperour as we said before they publish a Declaration July the thirteenth wherein they alledge That this War was a War of Religion and that it was the Emperour's Design under a certain colour and pretext of Rebellion and as if he intended but to punish a few to divide and break the Confederates that so he might afterwards more easily destroy them one after another For confirmation of this they bring several Proofs and give a Relation of what King Ferdinand Granvell Naves and others had privately said at Ratisbonne to wit That the Contempt of the Council was the cause of this War. They affirm also That the Emperour had sent Letters to the Magistrates of Ravensberg who had lately received the Reformed Religion That they should within a few days desist from their Enterprise else he threatned to give their Town and Lands to be plundred by his Soldiers but that the Messenger was recalled with his Letters when he was upon the Rode leâ—t it might become publick that Religion was the Ground of the War. That the Archbishop of Cologne also was for attempting a Reformation excommunicated by the Pope and deprived of all his Ecclesiastical Possessions and Dignities and is threatned almost with the very same by the Emperour What was that if not a plain Declaration of the Cause of the War For it was no light Report that went about That the Cardinal of Ausbourg a great Incendiary in these Troubles was by force to be put into his place That it was also given out by some That when they were once vanquished and subdued Forces should be dispersed all over Germany to see that the Decrees made in the Council concerning Religion should in the Emperour's Name be obeyed and put into execution Moreover that many Letters gave an account That the Archbishop of Toledo chiefly and many other Prelates of Spain did contribute vast Treasures for the carrying on of this War which they would not certainly do if any Secular Interest were the cause of it That it was known besides what sort of a Decree it was that past at Ausbourg sixteen years since when the Emperour declared That he could not endure that Sect and Doctrine of Luther but that he and his Friends would hazard all they had Life Strength Blood and all that he might destroy it Root and Branch For should they indeed be subdued which God forbid then would it soon appear that no favour was to be shewn to this Religion but that rather having killed their Ministers ravished their Wives and Children they would again restore Monks and Friars and the rest of that filthy Rout That it was not lawful for the Emperour to use violence against any State nor to proscribe any Man without a Trial nor yet to call into Germany Strangers or Forreign Forces nor indeed to aspire to any Hereditary Right or Succession to the Empire because to these Conditions he was bound by a sacred and solemn Oath For could he in right do otherwise there would be no lasting Form of Government in the Common-wealth That they could not imagine what the Cause of his Quarrel was For as for my part saith the Duke of Saxony all the Difference that he and his Brother King Ferdinand had with me was two years ago wholly ended at Spire and to cement our Friendship Eleanor the Daughter of Ferdinand was freely promised to my eldest Son provided we could agree about Religion The Emperour approved of that then and when I was returning home from the Diet he sent Granvell and Naves to my Lodgings to complement me in his Name and to assure me of his Kindness and of his Good-will towards my Person Children and whole Country What Crime can I have been guilty of since that time that he should from such cruel Resolutions against me But the truth is this is our Case as we said before we refuse the Pope's Counsel and therefore incur his Hatred However he had no reason to act so nor to design such things against the House of Saxony for he knows that after the Death of Maximilian this Imperial Dignity being offered to my Uncle Frederick he by his Vote and Interest secured it to him not to mention many other good Offices which at several times the Family of Saxony have done to the House of Austria But if perhaps he be offended that I turned Julius Pflugg out of the Bishoprick of Numburg as to that I both asserted my Right in a Publick Manifesto and referred my self to any unsuspected Judges and Arbitrators that the Emperour might appoint Now as for my part saith the Landgrave I was fully reconciled unto him five years ago at Ratisbonne and if that some years past I intended to make War against the Bishops and did after assist my Cousin the Duke of Wirtemberg in the recovering of his own for all that and whatever also I might have publickly or privately acted against the Statutes and Written Laws of the Empire I had a Pardon in due form What then should be the Cause of Prejudice or Animosity I cannot at all imagine Besides when I was to wait upon him lately at Spire he was so gracious and obliging to me both in Countenance and Speech that I could not perceive the least sign of Displeasure in him It was stipulated betwixt us five years since at Ratisbonne That if at any time he should attempt any thing against the Duke of Cleve I should not at all meddle in the matter He made War afterwards against him and I performed what I promised and when afterwards he received the Duke of Cleve into favour again which was before Venlo he pardoned all that had served under him or assisted him in his Wars But if he be offended at our Absence and that we did not come to Ratisbonne both of us made our Excuses the Duke of Saxony by Ambassadors and I personally in a Conference at Spire But what Liberty or Form of Government is there then in Germany if that should give a good Cause for War when not only in former Diets but in the very same Diet also of Ratisbonne several Princes were absent And as for the War of Brunswick we cannot be blamed for it is lawful for all Men to withstand Force by Force We frequently moved and earnestly desired in several Diets That a Restraint might be put upon his Boldness but unless it were fair Words and Letters we could obtain nothing And nevertheless the Publick Letters which at our desire King Ferdinand wrote to Duke Henry were accompanied with other Private ones whereby Duke Henry was given to understand that he was not to obey them These Letters under the King 's own Hand were found in Wolffembottel and if need were could be
produced Now had we acted with the same severity against the Duke of Brunswick as the Emperour does now against us though innocent there would have been no War at all But because he attacked us who are obnoxious and exposed to great hatred upon account of the Gospel and our Religion all his Trespasses were connived at Nor is the Emperour ignorant that we both put the Province we had taken under Sequestration and offered our selves to submit to the Verdict of Arbitrators appointed by his Majesty concerning the Defence we undertook against him If he had followed this course and had not in contempt of the Emperour's Edicts rejected the Sequestration and raised new Stirs but come to a fair Trial at Law with us all would have gone in the right way For if being cast we had not submitted to the Sentence then would the Emperour have had a good and lawful Cause of putting the Laws in execution against us whereas for what now he does he has none Nay more since the time Duke Henry and his Son were made Prisoners the Emperour never demanded any thing of us upon that account We are not then to be accused of Undutifulness Now if it be laid to our charge That we hinder the Course of Justice it is the greatest wrong can be done to us for since for many years past none were admitted to be Judges and Assessors in the Imperial Chamber but the sworn Enemies of our Religion that these slighting all Transactions and Agreements gave Sentence against us and our Confederates in Causes of Religion that in Civil Causes also they would do us no Justice we did no more but what we might lawfully do in refusing them as suspect and our Enemies offering withal to give more ample Reasons for our declining them before Judges chosen for that purpose Nothing then can be objected to us as to that Besides it was decreed at Spire two years since That the Chamber should be equally constituted and it cannot be imputed to us and our Associates that it is not done It is known also to the Emperour that in the Diet at Worms last year none did more oppose that Decree of his than those very Princes who would seem to be most dutiful and obedient for that very Reason That because they are our Adversaries they might be our Judges We are moreover informed That it is laid to our charge as a Crime that we endeavour to bring over some of the Nobility to our Party But it is strange that we should be blamed for that it being manifest from the Records of the Empire that it was the Practice of our Forefathers to associate to themselves not only the Nobility but the Bishops also And grant there were any fault in that is it therefore lawful without a fair Trial to make War against us Now though the Emperour be excepted in that Herediatary League which is betwixt the Houses of Saxony Brandenbourg and Hesse yet it is still so to be understood provided he abuse not his Power and Authority Let Albert and John Marquesses of Brandenbourg who have engaged in the Emperour's Service against us seriously consider then what they do and remember the Oath they are tied by We have thought fit to make this known to them and to those also who being our Vassals serve under them in this War. Nor will it excuse them to pretend that it is the Emperour's Design only to punish some Princes for their Disobedience since they themselves know that no such thing can justly be objected to us But if the Emperour had laid any Crime to our charge as in reason he ought to have done and we could not have justified our selves there would have been no necessity then of using such Artifices or of solliciting our Confederates to a Defection seeing if the Crime had been proved most part would have forsaken us of their own accord and few would have ventured a Risque with us in a bad Cause Furthermore when two years since we with others concluded to assist the Emperour against the French King he then promised That so soon as that War was ended he would march into Hungary in Person against the Turk But now when the Turks as it is reported by many do with vast Armies make Incursions into Hungary and the adjacent Countries and have besides strong Garrisons in Buda and Pest the poor Wretches of that Country are left as a Prey to the cruel and harbarous Enemy and no care taken of them that the Blood of those who profess the Name of Christ may in the mean time with more ease be shed in Germany This being so we are in good hopes that most Men will pity and commiserate our Condition and not joyn with our Enemies who have no other intent than to stifle the Light of the Gospel amongst us as we see it is in all other Places of their Dominions and to bring us under the worst kind of Bondage and Slavery but that they will acccept of moderate Pay with us rather than serve in the Armies of the Antichrist of Rome and his Adherents whose chief Endeavours are that even with the Ruine and Destruction of Germany they may again establish their impious and impure Doctrine And since now we are forced after we have earnestly begg'd for Peace and are convicted of no Crime to defend our selves against unjust Violence we trust that God Almighty will side with Truth against Falshood and in this his own Cause be our Chief Leader and Standard-bearer against the wicked Contrivances of the Pope For to him alone we wholly commit our Cause praying his Divine Majesty that he would confound the Devices of blood-thirsty Men and more and more promote his own Honour and Glory The same day they write to John Marquess of Brandenbourg wishing him as being one of the Protestant League which might be proved by his own Letters and then as an ancient Confederate of theirs also upon a particular account not to take Arms against them but to act and demean himself according to the Articles and Covenants of the League for that otherwise they would divulge the Matter and publickly accuse him of transgressing his Duty To which he made answer That he denied not but that he served the Emperour since he had given him assurance that his Design was not against the Religion That he was indeed of the Smalcaldick League but in so far only as concerned the Augustane Confession That as to the private League the Emperour was expresly therein excepted which being so that they had no reason to find fault with him for his Service nor to accuse him of having done any thing contrary to his Honour and Obligation Having received that Answer they publish a Manifesto and amongst other things refute what he had said of the Augustane Confession proving by his own Letters that he was bound to assist them and the Confederates if Matters should come to that pass although it
much from it as Poland does Because excepting some few and those too the first Masters hardly any of the rest ever did their Duty Nay for the most part letting the Barbarians alone they turned their Arms against their own Sovereign the King of Poland And not only so but they Negotiated also a League with the Tartars a cruel sort of Men and implacable Enemies to the Christians as it is reported of Michael Cochmester So that if one should reckon up the Labours Perils Charges Wars Tumults Battels Slaughters and Desolations that this Order above all others has been the cause of he 'll find it to be hardly worth so much Now it is the Kings desire that once for all an end may be put to these Evils for if any make War against Albert Duke of Prussia the King cannot sit still and see him wronged because he is both his Uncle and Patron The threatnings of some flie about and are brought to the Kings Ears and he is very much troubled thereat for he loves peace and quietness and above all the Concord of Christendom However if any offer Violence it will be against his will indeed to take up Arms but for all that he will do it for the defence of him and his He desires the friendship of all Princes but yours especially most mighty Emperour and King Ferdinand and wishes it may be perpetual therefore he hath often interceded with you by Letters and Messengers that the Decree of Proscription against Albert might be recalled And that it hath not as yet been done he imputes it not so much to you as to the troublesome times But now that all rubs and impediments are removed out of your way he thinks it is now in your power to accomplish what sometimes you generously promised when in more Letters than one you assured him that you wanted ability rather than good will to gratifie his desires Now in case the Order will not be quiet but raise Stirs and War he is very confident that you will observe the Articles and Compacts of your Predecessors the Emperours Maximilian and Frederick One thing more I have in my Instructions and that concerns the Cities of Dantzick and Elwang Though these are under the Dominion of Poland yet are they called to the Diets of the Empire the King therefore desires that no such thing may be done for the future and since no Man but he hath any right to them that henceforward they may be suffered to enjoy their own Laws When the Emperour had heard his Demands he made a Report of them to the Diet of the Empire and gave a Copy of the Speech to Wolfgang Master of Prussia who January the Twenty third made an Answer to it in the vulgar Language and having begun with a little Preface The Hinge of the whole Controversie turns upon this saith he Whether Prussia belong to the Dominion of Poland or to the Empire and if I make out the last the decision will be very easie The State of the Case then most Triumphant Emperour most Potent King most Noble Princes and States is thus as I am about to shew you About four hundred years since when a publick War was undertaken against the Barbarians who exceedingly distressed those of our Religion in Asia and Africa the Order we now speak of was instituted by Emperours afterward bountifully endowed and by Popes confirmed The Knights of that Order for some years after sustained most difficult and dangerous Wars in those parts for the good of Christendom but at length having received a great overthrow they were scattered and dispersed into several places It happened about that time that Conrade Duke of Muscovy was sadly put to it by the Prussians who were then Enemies to the Christian Religion He being unable to defend himself any longer against them implored first the Pope of Rome that as the Custom was he would publish a Croisadoe and by promises of Heavenly Rewards encourage Men to become Soldiers Then next he joyned to himself this Order of mine bestowing upon them all the Country of Culm bordering upon Prussia and the more to excite them afterwards all Prussia it self The Emperour Frederick II. confirmed this Donation and made a promise to Horman Salcie then Master of the Order That if he would make War against the Prussians and overcome them their Land should be his for ever This was in the year 1226. so that my Order having by the help of the Emperours Popes and Princes of the Empire carried on a continual War against the Prussians for almost filty three years at length they subdued Prussia and converted it to the Christian Religion adorning it with some Bishopricks and Colledges and strengthening it by Castles and Towns which they built that for the future that Country might be as a Wall and Bariere to the Empire and a Sanctuary for the Nobility of Germany Thus one part of that Country continued in our hands until the year 1450. and the other till the time of Albert of Brandenburg When in process of time afterwards the Lithuanians joyning with the Tartars made War against the Poles and Muscovites our Knights being mindful of their Order and Institution took Arms totally routed the Lithuanians and invaded their Country So that we had a lasting Peace and Amity with the Poles until a certain Prince of Lithuania was chosen King of Poland He to revenge the loss and affront that his Country had received suddenly set upon us and with the Assistance of the Barbarians did us much hurt But being by our Men forced to retreat and stript of a considerable part of his own Dominions he made but an unlucky end of the War so that he preferred his Grievances to the Council of Constance whereupon a Decree was made That our Order should restore that part of Poland which they held by the Law of Arms. Having in this manner recovered what he had lost he forgot the kindness that was done him and renewed the War pretending that some Provinces of our Order belonged to the Dominion of Poland And though by the Mediation of the Kings of Hungary and Bohemia the matter was taken up yet the sore broke out again and at length the Cause was brought before Sigismund the Emperour who approved the former Composition that was made by the two Kings However the King of Poland could not rest thus but raised another War which lasted till twenty four years after in the Reign of Ladâ—slaus it was made an end of at Torn In which Pacification he quits all Claim and Title calls not himself Lord or Inheritor of Prussia and obliges all his Successors that within a year after they come to the Crown they swear to Ratifie that Peace make the Bishops and other States of the Kingdom take the same Oath and that every tenth year the same be renewed It was then also Stipulated that if thenceforward any King of Poland should wage War against
it pleased him then But when our Saviour Christ Jesus that Sun of Righteousness shone forth dispelling the Mists and Shadows of Legal Ceremonies he would be Adored in all places You introduce then a new Bondage when you insist so much upon one place But seeing Germany is to be healed it is necessary that the Council be kept there What then if the Danes Goths and Britans were sick of the same Diseases Must every one of them have a General Council held within their own Countries No not so and in calling of Councils regard is had not so much to those for whom Laws are made as to them who make and prescribe them which are the Bishops and other Fathers whose convenience is most minded It may be made out by many instances that Councils have been often held without those Provinces where Heresies were broached Would it not be a very unjust thing that the Germans should take upon them to appoint a place for a publick Council wherever they pleased and rob all other Nations of the right and priviledge of election And this is enough to shew and convince you that there was no need of that pert Protestation of yours But now I proceed to the rest The Answer you say which we gave to the Emperour was unlawful full of Lies and grounded neither upon Right nor Reason Modester words would not have been so injurious but because you give no Reasons to back what you say I cannot distinctly answer you Nevertheless it troubles you I doubt that we demand that the Decrees may be ratified that fit security may be given to those who come to the Council that the same order and method of proceeding be observed which from the Age of the Apostles downwards to this very time has been always retained in the Church And lastly that nothing may be wanting in the safe Conduct Now there is nothing new or unreasonable in these Demands and they are matters commonly provided for not only in the Canon but Civil Law. But what you further say That whatsoever damage or inconvenience ensue hereafter the Emperour will impute it to me and at the same time whil'st I am negligent take the care of the Church upon himself Really so far as I am able by the Grace of God I will give no just cause to any Man to think me negligent in the concerns of the Church Nevertheless if it should prove so as all Men are frail I shall not take it ill if my negligence can stir up and put an edge upon the Emperours diligence to succour the Church still provided he keep within the limits you have staked out to him to wit that therein he follow the Rule of Right the Canons of the Church and the consent of the Christian World. Which if he do I make no doubt but that both our Functions though different and distinct will prove profitable to the Church Lastly As to that part of your Protestation where you alledge that the translation of the Council is unlawful because the stress of the Controversie rests there according to the power I am invested with I take upon my self the decision of that Point committing the examination thereof to their Eminencies the Cardinals Parisio Burgos Pool and Crescentio and in the mean time whil'st they are taken up in bringing the Matter to an issue I charge all Men not to attempt any thing to the contrary In like manner I command the Fathers as well those that are at Bolonia as at Trent that if they have any thing to say in this Matter they do it within a Month. And that I may not any way seem to slight the Interests of Germany I shall not refuse to send Legats thither to cure the infirmities of that People when I am satisfied that it will not be ungrateful to the Emperour and them After all if it appear upon tryal that it was not well done to remove the Council to Bolonia I shall by all means take care that it be continued at Trent And in few words I 'll omit nothing that can be done for restoring the ancient Religion of Germany The Cardinal of Trent was before this returned to Ausburg as we said when the Emperour then from his Discourse and Mendoza's Letters dated at Rome about the end of December perceived there was but small hopes of a Council January the Fourteenth he acquaints the States with the whole Affair telling them That he had sent Orders to his Ambassadour Mendoza to protest against the Translation of the Council at Rome that so soon as it is done he will give them a Copy of it to be transcribed and that although all hopes of a Council are not to be laid aside yet because it is like to be delayed somewhat too long it seemed to him very requisite that in the mean time some course should be taken that might contribute to the Peace of Germany that it was true the care of that Matter was committed to him but that he thought it expedient that some few good and Learned Men should be chosen out of the whole Body of the Dyet to manage that Affair That he would also appoint some to consult with them That therefore he required them that they would seriously apply themselves to this and laying aside all prejudices consider how much it concerned the Publick and every Mans private Interest that some Reconciliation were made That they would consider that before that unhappy Dissension Germany was one of the most flourishing Countrys in the World and as a Pattern that attracted the Eyes of all People That they would consider moreover that all the pains and trouble he had taken to get the Council continued at Trent had been to discharge himself of his Duty and to shew the singular Affection he bore to his Country Some Commissioners were therefore chosen to Treat of the Matter but they not agreeing among themselves the whole Cause was referred to the Emperour Wherefore he appointed some Persons to draw up Heads of Doctrine Ceremonies and of the Reformation of the Clergy These were Julius Pflug Bishop of Naumburg Michael Sidonius and John Islebius Agricola who Eighteen years before had with Melancthon and Brentius defended the Confession of the Protestant Doctrine as we mentioned in the Seventh Book They therefore Compile a Book of Doctrines but very secretly and when they had spent much time about it and viewed and reviewed it many times they at length present it to the Emperour Joachim Elector of Brandenburg who was very desirous of a Reconciliation having consulted with James Sturmey wrote to the Senate of Strasburg entreating them that for the sake of Religion they would send Bucer unto him for that the Pope declining the Council the Emperour had taken another course and that therefore there was great hopes of Reformation Bucer is therefore sent who taking his Journey privately about the end of Janaury stopt not far from Ausburg to stay there till the
Prince should send for him Mention has been made in former Books how the English had given the Scots a great overthrow in Battel Nevertheless the Scots persisting still in their Resolution and relying on the Promises of the French King Somerset the Protector of England and the rest of the Privy Council published a very long Declaration and Letter dated February the Fifth exhorting them to Peace in this manner Although say they the thing it self required that ye who have the worst on 't both in your Cause and the Defence of it should have made the first step and although we are now possessed of a large part of your Country yet we cannot but give you a friendly warning to consult your own safety Before the Battel that was fought last year we invited you to Peace and Friendship and declared our minds unto you but that Paper was suppressed by the great Men and Regent of the Kingdom and never delivered unto you for they are such that if matters go well with themselves they are but little concerned what becomes of you Wherefore if they use the same arts still and will not suffer you to be informed of our Purpose and Desire we openly declare by these Presents that we have neglected no Duty that was incumbent on us Many and most bloudy Wars have been often carried on betwixt the English and Scots and it is not to be doubted but that they who read History or hear of publick Affairs do much wonder that People of the same Country and Language should entertain such bitter Dissentions and Animosities amongst themselves and do not think it a most desireable thing that some way were found out whereby the whole Island might be united and subjected to one Government but that the most expedient way that can be thought on for that is Marriage all Men confess Now God in his great mercy hath pointed out this way unto you and dropt as it were into your Lap the fairest occasion that may be Your King after he had broken his Promise having lost a Battel shortly after died whether of grief or some other cause we determine not He had three Children two Sons and a Daughter and the Sons indeed might have stood in one way of any Condition betwixt us but both of them God removed almost in one day when they were Infants and left you for Heiress a young Daughter born a little before her Fathers death He hath given us a most hopeful King Edward the Son and Heir of King Henry What Do'nt you see a Bond of a perpetual and immortal friendship betwixt us prepared to your hands Such occasion hath been often wished for indeed but for these Eight hundred years never offered before Nor can they themselves who amongst you hinder the Peace deny the truth of this but alledge that we would by this means get the chief Rule and Government into our own hands and bring you into bondage and slavery But in a Declaration we directed to you a year ago we sufficiently refuted that and now take God to witness that the Kings mind is to joyn with you in the closest and most indissoluble bond of Friendship but if you refuse and by your obstinacy move us to War again consider pray who is like to bear the blame of all the common Evils that may ensue You promised in full Parliament your young Queen in Marriage to our King Contracts and Writings were thereupon made and sealed with the great Seal of the Kingdoms Many Cautions and Securities were given nay and Hostages too until both were come to the Age of Maturity These your publick Writings we have and they are a standing Evidence against you and 〈◊〉 Earl of Arran the Regent of your Country was not only present when the Matter was transacted but had also a chief hand in carrying it on though afterwards when the Cardinal of St. Andrews and some other Prelats had suggested to him fears and jealousies and put him in great hopes he fell off from the Agreement and violated his Faith. Him now ye are to blame for all the mischief that is befallen you that ye have lost so many Towns and Castles that so many have been killed in Battel and that we have advanced so far into your Country it is all to be imputed to him But what end after all do ye expect of this obstinacy and perfidiousness We are Conquerours and yet offer you Peace We are in possession of a good part of your Kingdom and yet invite you into England The disgrace that is commonly imposed upon the vanquished that when they are united to a Conquering People they should forsake and lose the name of their own Nation we willingly spare you and are content to take the ancient name of Britians which is common to both For the love of God what is it that we can do more Will not all Men say that we had a just cause of War when they find that such generous just and Honourable Conditions have been rejected by you We lay open unto you all the ways of entring into friendship and drive not your Queen out of her Kingdom but will Establish her and her Daughter in England Again it is not our thoughts to alter your Laws for both England and France and the Emperours Dominions also are governed by different Laws They who endeavour to obstruct the Peace scare you with such Bugbears but it is their own profit and pleasure and not your welfare they seek Turn your Eyes and Thoughts then off them and weigh with your selves the State of your Country Ye have a young Princess and Heiress to a Kingdom some time or other surely she must be Married and that either to one of your own Country or to some Foreign Prince If at home our Right and Claim is still good and it will be a thing that will occasion Domestick Troubles and Envy If you take any Foreigner you will both have us for perpetual Enemies and must truckle under the wretched Bondage of Strangers Succours you must seek from a far and it is not to be expressed what hurt and damage you 'll receive from the Forces that may be sent you and with what Pride and Insolence they 'll domineer over you For they 'll be persuaded that your safety and preservation depends wholly on their Arms and Protection What 's more they 'll take from you both your Queen and Princess and carry them whither they please and if they happen to have War on any other hand which is not impossible their whole care will be to defend their own and they 'll leave you in prey to us But if they send only Officers and no Soldiers these will imperiously give Laws to you and if any thing succeed prosperously all the glory must be theirs but if any disaster happen the whole Storm will fall on you who venture your Lives and spend your dearest Bloud You may be convinced also of the danger there
made me this Report That if rightly understood it was not inconsistent to the Catholick Religion nor with the Doctrines Canons and Constitutions of the Church except only in two Points the one concerning the Marriage of Priests and the other touching the Lords Supper But that it was a proper Expedient in its kind for establishing the Peace of Germany the thing I most wish for For what would be more agreeable than to see all the States unanimous in following one and the same form of Religion Which being so I require those who have hitherto to their praise observed the Laws and Rites of the Catholick Church that they continue in the same without wavering or starting of any Innovations as they have heretofore promised unto me and I earnestly desire those who have changed their Religion that they would either come over to the rest of the States and joyn with them in the Profession of the same Religion or moderate their Doctrine according to the Prescript of this Book and in every Point make it their Pattern Nor would I have them alter or add any thing to it but contain themselves within the limitation therein prescribed and neither in their Writings nor Sermons publish or vent any thing to the contrary but obediently expect the Decree of the Council which I shall endeavour shall be called as soon as possibly may be In the mean time it is my whole care that a Form of regulation be conceived for reformation of the Clergy When he had thus spoken by the Mouth of his Secretary as the Custom is he commanded the Book to be read So soon as that was done the Archbishop of Mentz who has the first place amongst the Electors without consulting the rest of the States started up and as in name of the whole Dyet gave the Emperour most hearty thanks for the great labour and pains he had been at for his care and diligence and for the zeal and affection he had for his Country And that seeing they had formerly referred the Matter to his prudent and faithful management and that now he had laboured to bring it to effect It was but just and reasonable said he that with most thankful hearts they should acknowledge so great favours and dutifully submit to the Decree The Emperour took the thanks for a publick consent and confirmation nor would he afterwards admit of any excuse as shall be said hereafter and commanded the Book to be printed both in Latin and in the Vulgar Tongue Four days after he represented to the States the great labour and charges he had been at in restoring Peace to Germany And that because the thing it self required that the same should be secured for the future it therefore seemed to him very necessary that some considerable sum of Money should be raised and in certain places kept in a publick Bank that if any Commotions should happen to arise within or without the Empire there must be a remedy ready at hand Some few days after that King Ferdinand also represented to the States that for necessary causes and considerations which were not unknown to them and needed not to be related he had by his Ambassadour made a Truce with the Turks for five years which had begun the year before And that though the Turk had charged his Subjects that they should act nothing to the contrary yet he nevertheless desired that they would contribute the Aids which they had promised before that if he should chance to break the truce he might be in a condition to make head against him That besides since the Turk fortified his frontier places with strong Garisons it concerned him not to be negligent And that therefore he had resolved to fortifie all proper places and keep Garisons in them But that because of the great charges he had been at in the late Wars he was not able long to support so great a burden That therefore he entreated them that they would give him a yearly Subsidie for those uses during the continuance of the truce For that that concerned the quiet and safety of them all in general In the mean time Maximilian the Son of King Ferdinand went from Ausburg to Spain to celebrate his Marriage with the Lady Mary the Emperours eldest Daughter and his own first Cousin The Cardinal of Trent was sent with him and the Duke of Alva went some Months before about the later end of May. The Neapolitan Horse who had before quartered in Nortgow came into the Country about Strasburg and continued almost three Months there behaving themselves with incredible insolence They came now and then into the Town which created no small suspition Duke Maurice not long after the publication of the Emperours Decree departed But Marquess John of Brandenburg Brother to the Elector Joachim waited upon the Emperour and in presence of King Ferdinand humbly begg'd that he would spare him as to that Decree and having taken a little notice of the services he had rendered him told him that it was chiefly the confidence he had in the Emperours promise concerning the free exercise of his Religion that made him serve in the late Wars The Emperour made answer That the Decree was made with the consent of the States of the Empire and therefore not to be dispensed with He on the other hand cryed that all had not assented nor could he with a good Conscience approve that Decree and challenged the Emperours Word and Promise When the Emperour perceived there was nothing to be done with him he bad him be gone and it was thought he did so that by his Example or Discourse he might not confirm the minds of others Wherefore the same day towards the Evening he set out on his Journy homewards and made no alteration in all his Country His Brother the Elector who had made it always his study to please the Emperour shew'd no resistance Nor the Elector Palatine neither who otherwise was not much in favour at that time with the Emperour When the Decree was put to the Deputies of the Cities that were of the Augustane Confession they prayed that they might have leave to consult their Principals about the Matter that afterwards they might answer according to their minds which was granted them Wolfgang Duke of Deux-ponts of the House Palatine had his Deputies there but the Emperour commanded him to come before him in Person which being done he pressed him to approve the Decree He made Answer That he knew no other Religion but that wherein he had been born and bred to that very day wherefore he prayed his Majesty to have some Consideration for him promising to do therein whatever he could with a safe Conscience At that time the Emperour did indeed dismiss him but plied him sharply afterwards by Messengers and Letters as shall be said in its proper place Whil'st the Senate and Council of Ausburg are consulting the Emperour posts Soldiers
thousand killed and amongst those many innocent Men whom they had partly feared and partly wheadled into their service eight Colours with all their Artillery Ammunition and Baggage taken Now they endeavour to make us the cause of this War and say That at our instigation the Duke of Meckleburg took up Arms But it is false for many times before and since the Battel we sent Deputies to treat of Peace and desire nothing else at present than that they might make their Peace with the Emperour and suffer us to live peaceably and quietly at home as in former times we did But seeing they reject all offers of Peace and by unjust violence detain from us our Castles Towns and Villages we are constrained to take some course to recover them again Now all that they alleage and publish in their own justification is utterly false as is commonly known For we did not disturb nor molest them in the Exercise of their Religion and when lately the most Illustrious Princes Duke Maurice and Joachim Elector of Brandeburg proposed reasonable Conditions of Peace unto them they proudly rejected them and sallying out in the night time fell upon an Aged Gentleman a Bed in his own House without any offence given and when with very much ado he had escaped half naked they plundered his House robbed his Wife and Children of all their Cloaths and having threatned many times to kill them left them naked so that a Gentleman happening at that time to come was fain to cover the Lady with his own Garment The truth is it cannot be expressed in few words what outrages they committed that night They have made their brags also and that not obscurely too that it is in vain for us to expect restitution for having raised their Fortunes with our Lands and Goods they are accustomed now to an higher rate of living and cannot be easily brought to restore the Possessions of other Men. Which being so and seeing to past injuries they add present contempt and are wholly bent upon our destruction we could not but give this short account of their noble Actions Wherefore it ought not to seem strange to any man if courses now be taken to reduce them to their Duty For whoever love the Civil State and common Society of Manking cannot but have an aversion to them and so be far from succouring or assisting them In the same manner they had a little before accused them by their Deputies at Torgaw where Duke Maurice held then a Convention of States upon account of this War. But not many days after the same Month the Senate made answer by a publick Declaration that they did not suppose all the States of the Archbishoprick made this complaint of them but that it proceeded wholly from the Clergy For it is a great grief to them say they that the Purity of the Gospel is preach'd up amongst us that their our naughtiness is detected and dignity abased And this is the source of all their hatred This hath egged them on to accuse us falsly to the Emperour that being outlawed by him we might lie the more exposen to injuries We have not truly offended the Emperour in any thing and saving our Religion and Liberty there is nothing but what he might expect from us We are indeed bound to the Archbishops of this City but upon certain Conditions to wit that they impeach not our Rights and Liberties and these Conditions we have not violated But our Adversaries advised John Albert the Archbishop to demand some things that were new and unsual Wherefore we refused to do homage unto him However they have no great cause to instance him for neither were they themselves faithful unto him and it much grieved them when in former years they saw a way made for him to enter into the Archbishoprick for they would rather have had him excluded Now we are not subject nor any ways bound to them And so long as the Compacts of the last Age were observed we refused no kind of Duty but after that these began to be laid aside we withstood it and many Quarrels have arisen from thence When of late years also new ways were now and then found out to raise Money in this Province we openly opposed it in the publick Conventions shewing that it was a thing never attempted by former Archbishops though all we could do was in vain For a great part of that went as a prey amongst some of the States but especially the Clergy This is that refractariness which they object to us They went out of the City but of their own accord and prompted to it by a certain kind of pride when they saw that the Duke of Saxony and Landgrave were overcome For then they thought the time was come when they should have their hearts desire invade the Government and live again at their wonted rate of impurity We did not indeed drive them out and though some of our Ministers would now and then inveigh against the filthy and dissolute couse of life they led yet for many years they lived with all safety amongst us and now but very lately some of them dwelt in the City Now if we had had a mind to have used any force upon them it had been no hard matter to have been done But we attempted no such thing and when the state of our Affairs was such that we had reason and were constrained to fear hostilities we called a Convocation of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church and that since the Light of the Gospel was made manifest and that God also requires the Profession of it we earnestly entreated them as we had done many time before that they themselves would chuse some learned Divine to preach the Word of God in the Cathedral Church That that in it self was a very pious Work and would much conduce to the settling of mutual good will and friendship betwixt them and the Towns people But upon their refusal to do it we procured it to be done And because the Enemy was at hand and had already entred our Frontiers we desired of them that they would advance a certain sum of Money send no Letters out of the Town remain with us and use and enjoy their own Possessions But not long after they removed and being afterwards importuned by us to send Deputies at a day prefixed to Salfield with whom we might treat they scornfully rejected the Conference Wherefore since they thus expressed their hatred and enmity to us we were forced to requite them in the same manner Though if they had tarried with us all this trouble might have been avoided But they were inflamed with malice against us and were still hatching ways to ruine and destroy us So that we were necessitated to take up Arms for our own defence For if we had not seized their Villages and Towns there had been a place of refuge left for the Enemy And seeing these Lands belong to the Church of
assurance that they would not annoy him nor his Friends for that he had been put in good hopes by the Letters of a great many that if Liberty were once restored the Peace of the Church might also be upon lawful terms established all ambition and desire of private lucre being set aside That these were the things he thought fit to declare unto them that they might know what his will and purpose was That therefore he did require that no Person would offer to hinder or molest him or his Friends in the prosecution of so just a War and so necessary for the welfare of Germany for that otherwise if any Man should so much forget the love and duty which he owed to his Country as to think of making resistance he would destroy him with Fire and Sword and though it would be against his will to do so yet if any such should be he must be cut off as a rotten and corrupt Member from the rest of the Body lest he might hurt by Contagion and so be restrained from doing of Mischief That they might learn the rest from his Ambassador the Bishop of Byonne that he sent to them with fuller Instructions to whom he willed them to give Credit This Declaration was Printed and Published in the vulgar Tongue with a Cap betwixt two Daggers over head and this Motto The Emblem of Liberty underneath was the title of the King who called himself the Defender of the Liberty of Germany and of the Captive Princes Some say that this cognisance was to be found on ancient Medals and was given by the Murtherers of Julius Caesar Whereas he said that the Emperor had allotted a reward to those who should kill some of his Collonels the Story is this The Emperor had by a late Edict again proscribed the Rhinegrave Recrod Rifeberg and Scherteline who all served the King of France as we said before and had promised a reward of four thousand Florins to him that should bring in any one of them dead or alive for they were great promoters of the Cause and after the League we mentioned was made went into Germany and there raised Soldiers whom they carried into France Now Scherteline was in a manner forced to fly over to the French King after he had for some years in vain sollicited but could not by any man's Intercession be received into favour again with the Emperor nor King Ferdinand These declarations of the Princes and French King being dispersed over Germany wrought hope in some but in many fear and anxiety Duke Maurice who disguised all things held a convention of the States of his Dominion on the first of March and amongst other things declared unto them that being cited to appear by the Landgrave's Sons he could no longer shuffle with them nor frustrate their Expectation that he was therefore going to them that he might fullfil his Promise and Engagement that in the mean time they should obey his Brother Augustus whom he left to govern them in his absence and to raise Men for the defence of the Frontiers that they might not be unprovided if any thing should happen The Elector of Brandenburg was present there it being the day he had been cited to appear on but having obtained leave from the Landgrave's Sons to appear another time when he should be summoned to come and fulfil his Promise he returned Home In the mean time Duke Maurice having settled all things at home and assigned some Counsellors to his Brother Augustus went with few in Company to the Forces which as I said he had lying in Thuringe and marching forwards a little waited for the coming of the Landgrave's Son. Before he parted from home Henry Burgrave of Misnia a Man of Illustrious Birth and Chancellor of Bohemia had in King Ferdinand's Name treated earnestly with him about an accommodation Now when on the eighteenth of March the Landgrave's Son was come with his Forces to Erlebach the French Ambassador being there also they both wrote to the City of Frankfurt requiring them amongst other things not to admit a Garrison from the Emperor and although their answer from within was not plain enough nor to their satisfaction yet there was nothing else done because it concerned him to hasten his March forwards Six days after he joyned Duke Maurice and so in three days more all the Army came to Schuinfurt there Duke Maurice told him that King Ferdinand offered to Mediate and had both by Letters and Agents plainly enough intimated that he had Power also to treat about his Father's Liberty He therefore making the French Ambassador privy to it was willing he said to hear what conditions and demands King Ferdinand would propose That being resolved upon they march in great haste by Rotenburg Dinklespiel and Nordlingeâ— to Donawert at Rotenburg they were joyned by Albert Marquess of Brandenburg with his Forces both Horse and Foot wheresoever they past they brought the Towns-People under Subjection and made new Magistrates in place of those the Emperor put in whom they turned out making them also furnish Money and Ordnance and because Ausburg was but meanly Garrisoned and that about the same time part of the Wall and Rampart was fallen down on the first day of March they set forward and marching all night came before it the first of April about noon where by making some Incursions they shewed themselves to be Enemies The Emperor had sent four Companies of Foot into the Town but when four days after the Towns-People surrendred the Place they had leave given them to March away Then they summon the Cities of upper Germany and Norimberg amongst the rest commanding them to appear at Ausburg by the end of April That also sollicite Ulm which is but nine Miles distant from Ausburg to assist them with all thins necessary and enter into Society with them Much about the same time the Prince of Salerno upon occasion of a quarrel which he had with the Viceroy of Naples revolted from the Emperor and went into France Whilst these things are acting in Germany the French King having taken the Field with a vast Army made himself Master of Toul and Verdan two Imperial Cities upon the Frontiers of France After ward he marched to Lorrain and sent the young Duke a Boy of nine years of Age into France though his Mother the Dutchess Dowager had begged earnestly to the contrary and promised to give him his Daughter in Marriage Whilst he himself is taken up about these affairs the Constable Ann of Momorency who commanded the Van possesses himself of Metz a famous Imperial City on the tenth of April there being but a small Garrison in it and the French having made fair Promises protesting that their King had taken up Arms only for the defence of their Liberty For when March the fifteenth the King marched over the borders of France by Letters and Messengers whom he sent unto them he
contributed their Money and Goods at all times That it was still their resolution and they would never be backward to do all that lay in their power at any time for the Dignity and Safety of their common Countrey and that they knew it to be their duty so to do according to the Oath of Fidelity whereby they were bound to the Empire That since it was so there was no necessity that they should give any further Declaration of their intentions That the King of France himself when he was lately in Alsatia had demanded no such thing of them That moreover the Writing which he mentioned to have been published by the Confederates concerning the Cause of the War had never been sent or shewn to them and that therefore they entreted him to be satisfied and not do any injury to them or their Countrey At the very same time Marquess Albert having received intelligence that Duke Maurice enclined to Peace left a Garison in Spire and with his Army returning before Franckfurt prosecuted the Siege which Duke Maurice upon conclusion of the Peace had now raised having encamped on a higher ground on the other side of the Town and this side of the River Mayne from whence he might most commodiously batter the place For he was cruelly vexed at this Pacification and spoke very reproachfully of Duke Maurice refusing to be comprehended in the Treaty The Conditions of Peace were That the Confederate Princes shall lay down their Arms before the Twelfth day of August and disband their Forces so as they may serve King Ferdinand if he please and neither annoy the Emperor nor Germany At and before the same day also the Landgrave shall be set at liberty and safely conveyed to his own Castle of Rhinefelse which he hath upon the Rhine having first given Security for performing the Conditions imposed by the Emperor at Hall in Saxony The Duke Maurice the Elector of Brandenburg and Wolffgang Duke of Deux-ponts who were then Sureties for him shall be bound and renew their Obligation for him again That the Suit which the Landgrave hath with the Count of Nassaw concerning the Lordship of Catzenelbogen shall be brought to a new Trial before the Princes Electors and such others as both the Plaintiff and Defendant shall pitch upon for that purpose out of whom the Emperor shall afterward chuse six who shall finally determine the Matter but so that the Cause be decided within the space of two years That within six Months the Emperor shall hold a Diet of the Empire and then it is to be deliberated by what means chiefly the Difference about Religion may be composed That in the mean time all shall live in peace and no man be molested for his Religion That what shall be decreed by the common Consent of the States and Authority of the Emperor touching the manner of quieting the disturbances about Religion to wit that the difference be taken up in an amicable just and pious way the same shall be firm and stable That those of the Augustane Confession shall also be admitted into the Imperial Chamber That all other things that concern the Honour and Liberty of Germany shall be handled in the Diet of the Empire That Otho Henry Prince Palatine shall have the free enjoyment and possession of his own Countrey That all who during this War bound themselves by Oath to be true to the Confederate Princes shall be discharged from all Obligation and be their own men as before That they who have received hurt and damage in the tumult of War shall not bring any Action for it against those who did the same However That the Emperor and States may in the next Diet consider of some way how their Losses may be repaired As to what concerns the French King since he hath nothing to do with the Affairs of the Empire he may if he please declare to Duke Maurice what private Demands he hath to be made to the Emperor that so they may be all communicated by him to his Imperial Majesty That those who are Outlawed shall be received into favour again provided they act nothing for the future against the Emperor and States of the Empire provided also that they who serve the French King do within three Months time leave his Service and return into Germany That Marquess Albert of Brandenburg shall be comprehended in this Peace provided he lay down Arms and disband his Forces at before the 12th day of August And that he who shall break this Peace be reckoned an Enemy All these Articles were signed by the Princes of the first Rank who were present and by the Ambassadors and Deputies of the rest For the Instrument of this Peace was drawn up at Passaw and was also signed by the Emperor Upon the Conclusion of Peace the French Ambassador returned home for the King was highly displeased at the Pacification But being informed that the Landgrave was in great danger unless some Capitulation were made he consented to it and sent back the Hostages safe into Germany On the Third of August Duke Maurice and the Landgrave's Son departing from Franckfurt separated and took two several ways the Landgrave's Son went into Hesse but Duke Maurice led his Forces to Donawert and sent them by Water down the Danube to Hungary against the Turk But the Regiment commanded by Rifeberg past the River of Mayne and went to Marquess Albert to the great trouble of the Princes who feared that the Emperor might take occasion hereby to detain the Landgrave still prisoner Marquess Albert having lain some time before Franckfurt where he refused to be comprehended in the Peace on the Ninth of August departed and passing over the Rhine came and encamped near to Mentz making the Citizens take an Oath to be true unto him About the end of July the Emperor came from Villach to Inspruck and from thence taking his way through Bavaria with the German Bohemians Italians and Spaniards who arrived at Genoua about the beginning of July under the Command of the Duke of Alva on the Twentieth of August he came to Ausburg When the Arch-Bishop of Mentz who had for some days wandered as a Fugitive up and down Schuabia heard of the Emperor's coming he went to Ausburg also About this time the People of Siena at the instigation and with the aid of the French King cast out their Spanish Garrison demolish a Citadel that was there begun to be built by the Emperor's Command and declare for their former Liberty Marquess Albert in the mean time demands vast Sums of Money of the Church-men especially of Mentz and Spire but when the Money could not be raised since most of them were fled he robbed the Churches of both Cities and began to take the Lead off of the Cathedral of Spire but at the intercession of the Senate he desisted At Mentz besides he burnt not only the Bishop's Castle standing upon the Rhine his
take up Arms and gathered together what Forces he could hire against him On the other side Albert passed through his Territories without doing any Injury till he came to Halberstad the Gates of which City he surprized and forced the Clergy of it to pay him a considerable Sum of Money From thence he passed into the Territories of Henry Duke of Brunswick which with the Assistance of Erick and the Nobility of that Dukedom he burnt and wasted In the interim the Forces of Henry Duke of Brunswick which as we have related above were sent into Franconia under the Command of Philip his Son having without success attempted Schweinfurt and now seeing the War carried to their own doors returned into Saxony the Forces belonging to Maurice did the same and under the Command of Hedeck joyned Maurice at Northausen Maurice being thus reinforced and seeing Albert had invaded the Territories of Minden a City of Westphalia conjecturing by this that Albert designed to pass by Hassia into Franconia again he thereupon left Northausen and with his Army marched to Eimbeck to prevent him in this Design At last all the Confederate Forces met at Osterode the first of July From hence not only Maurice but Henry Plaw Chancellor of Bohemia in the Name of Ferdinand King of Bohemia sent a Declaration of War to Albert affirming That whereas the Emperor by the common consent of the Princes and States of the Empire had determined that Peace should be preserved in the Empire and command that none of the Princes should use any force but prosecute their Pretences in the Imperial Chamber where they should have Justice done them according to the Laws which was then so absolutely necessary for the preservation of the Empire Germany after so many Civil Wars being very much weakned and standing in need of a Peace That therefore when lately a War had arisen in the Empire Ferdinand with the assistance of some of the other Princes had very much sollicited the restitution of the Peace and had at length obtained the Consent of the contending Princes and Generals and with the Consent of the Emperor had made a Peace By the Articles of which it was agreed That not only the said Treaty should be observed but also that if any Infraction was made Succours should be sent to any of the Princes that was invaded But you say they have not only refused to submit to this Decree or Treaty but have also presumed to write openly to some of the Electors That it tended to the Dishonour and Damage of Germany and was to be esteem'd no other than a betraying of the Empire by which words you have sufficiently discovered your disposition towards your Countrey After therefore you had was sted with Fire and Sword the Banks of the Rhine and that your Affairs in France did not succeed the Emperor having then also an Army in the Field you desired to be received into the Treaty of Bamberg and Wurtzburg which you at last obtained of the Emperor by the intercession of others You had no sooner obtain'd this Favour of the Emperor who allowed you no use of Force but you immediately abused it and by your Servants frequently threatned the two Bishops that you would compel them by the Forces of Mansfeld and Oldenburg to perform the Articles as may be proved by the Letters of your Ministers In order to this you commanded those Souldiers you dismissed after the Siege of Metz to return to their Arms again in the beginning of April And although those Prelates submitted the Controversies then depending to the Arbiterment of the Emperor his Brother Ferdinand and the Princes of the Empire or to the determination of the Laws and the Imperial Chamber and especially at Heidelburg offered such Terms as were approved not only by the mediating Princes but by the Emperor also as appears by his Letter yet at last you rejecting all these Offers entred their Territories and taking some of their Towns you shew no favour even to the Women of the Nobility you found there you have not only plundered and put under contribution the Territories of those two Prelates but you have executed the same injuries upon them of Norimberg who according to the Laws of the Empire and the late Treaties came into the assistance of these Prelates you have burnt many Forts Towns and Villages and together with these Buildings you have in some places cruelly burnt the Inhabitants too After this in many places you took the more ancient of the Citizens and Townsmen as Hostages for the Money you had imposed upon them and when they were not able to pay it you carried them with you into the lower Saxony and with great inhumanity and tryranny led them about with you as prisoners whithersoever you went You have against all Justice declared a War against the Nobility of Franconia and injuriously seized and garrison'd Schweinfurt which is an Imperial City By all which Actions of yours you have disturbed and terrified your Neighbours and given Germany a new and unheard of Example To all this I may add that you have not shewn the respect you ought to Ferdinand the King of the Romans though you are one of his Homagers and by an ancient League obliged to him yet notwithstanding you have presumed to make inroads not only into his Kingdom of Bohemia but also you have treated the Inhabitants of those Territories which he had granted to the City of Norimberg with more than ordinary cruelty and have slain some and impoverished others of the best Families belonging to them You fell upon those Troops which they of Norimberg had raised by his permission in Bohemia not to the intent they should injure any body but only that they might preserve the Territories of that City from force and having reduced them under your power you disarm'd them and so forced them to return home Besides you have entertain'd some that are Traytors to that Prince and declared Rebels by him And you have greatly threatned and injuriously treated the King and Kingdom of Bohemia though that Prince has done nothing to incense you against him but on the contrary has on all occasions promoted your Interests as far as he could And although it is now above a year since in an hostile way you entred his Countrey yet you know how friendly he lately wrote to you that you should make satisfaction for the wrong you have done and for the future be more careful And now as to what concerns my self said Maurice though in all my Life I never gave you the least cause of Offence but have rather bestowed many Benefits upon you yet the last year when after the Peace I went from Franckfurt and levied and led some Forces into Hungary for the Service of my Countrey and for the sake of Ferdinand against the Turks you may easily remember what Arts you employed to seduce my Souldiers from me and how injuriously you spoke of me to your own
Souldiers and to others when speaking of the Pacification of Passaw you call'd it a betraying of Germany reflecting more particularly upon Me and Plaw the Chancellor of Bohemia my good Friend Nor am I ignorant of what you attempted the last Winter when I was in Hungary to ruine me and my Countries by the Forces of the Earl of Mansfield which then quartered in the Dukedom of Brunswick And after you were reconciled to the Emperor it is well known to those who were present in the Camp how frequently sharply and injuriously and sometimes how threatningly you spoke of me and my Provinces during the Siege of Metz And when that Siege was ended and you were returned home being desired by me in a Letter to acquaint me with the Truth of these things and to let me know how you were affected towards me you proudly replied That you well remembred what you had spoken of me or others and would not deny it and as to your Affections your Answer was such as I could not certainly tell what you meant And after that writing to me from Heidelberg and dissembling my former Enquiry you suggested some things concerning some of the Nobility which I suppose was done that you might bring me to suspect and distrust them But on the other side I took no great notice of these things but advised and perswaded you not to break the Peace and desired you to let me know what I must expect from you But then in your Letters to the Elector of Brandenburg though you spoke with some Moderation of me yet where you mentioned the Pacification of Passaw you did not obscurely hint how you stood affected to me and within a short time after you more plainly declared your Mind for in some of your latter Letters you desired I would recal those Forces which I had in Franconia in the Service of my Allies or otherwise you should have just cause of a War against me And after this you passed through mine and my Brother's Territories when you had not before acquainted us with it which is directly contrary to the ancient and received Custom of Germany You pretend indeed that you did me no Injury in this Passage but I have received other accounts from my Subjects and yet if this were true I should not attribute it so much to your good Disposition towards me as to the necessity of your Affairs It is well known how fast you Marched and how weary your Soldiers were not were you ignorant how easy it was for me in case you had used any Forces against my Country to resist it considering the weariness and weakness of your Men and the nearness of my Forces which were then in Franconia and might in a short time have been recalled no your Intentions were to fall upon me in your Return nor did your Soldiers dissemble it And in your March through Thuringe you Plundered some Villages belonging to Erfurdt which City is under our Protection and this you could not deny in your Letters to me from Brunswick And in your March through my Brothers Territories your Soldiers slew some of his Subjects near Bickling and beat and took Prisoners two Gentlemen who appealed to me Yet all these Injuries could not provoke me to take Arms against you but I rather chose to write to you and to exhort you to Peace which was then to be Treated of at Franckfurt by Mediators desiring also you would inform me how you stood affected towards me and my Allies But then how Injuriously and Passionately you replied may be seen by your Letter for you would neither discover your Intentions as to the one and as to the other you pretended to suspect the Treaty of Franckfurt so that all that I could gather from that Letter was that you were resolved to prosecute the War in Franconia and that I and my Allies were to expect no great Favour from you as occasion served which appeared more clearly in the Treatment those of Erfurt and others received from you For you levied great Sums of Money on the Bishoprick of Halberstad and over and besides you plundered their Colleges in the open Country and damnified them otherwise though you knew that Diocess was put under my Protection by the Emperor You did the same by the Archbishoprick of Magdeburg and you extorted Money also from the Cities of Northausen and Mulhausen which are under my Protection You Prosecuted also Henry Duke of Brunswick with Fire and Sword so soon as ever you knew there was a League between him and me though it was very just and agreeable to the Treaty of Passaw and after the same manner have you Treated all my other Allies which actions are very contrary to the Tenor of your late Letters Now therefore tho' King Ferdinand I and my Allies do earnestly desire to preserve the Peace of Germany and ever since the Treaty of Passaw have made it our greatest Care to keep the Empire in Tranquillity and especially this Part of it which many of the Nobility of Brunswick who are now in your Camp can testifie yet seeing you have brought the War into these Parts and by your Invading my Allies have not obscurely discovered your Intentions toward me and forasmuch as there is a common Fame that you are raising greater Forces under hand and in anothers Name which you can enver maintain except you suffer them to Rob Spoil and commit all manner of Injustice so that not only Franconia but the rest of the Neighbour Provinces are in danger of being ruin'd by you which you have not been able to dissemble neither but have given out Words that your Condition should not be inferiour to that of others for these Causes I say and for that you have left us no other way open of preserving the Peace King Ferdinand I and my Alies being near Neighbours to the Danger are resolved to take up Arms for our defence to the Intent we may repel your Force and unjust Violence offered to us defend our Country and restore the publick Peace For this is not only allowed but commanded by the Laws of Germany and we are also enjoyned by the Supream Authority of the Imperial Chamber to assist and defend our Neighbours in Franconia And although now you are Levying Forces you pretend to do it in the Name of the Emperor and give out that you have his Order for it yet we are certain this is a meer empty Pretence for the Emperor has not discovered his Mind to you only but to us and others also and in a short time you shall have a further Account of it And whereas our Enterprise tends to the Publick Good and therefore we were not strictly obliged to make any Previous Declaration of our Intentions yet lest you should pretend Ignorance we have thought fit to let you know that we are resolved to put a stop to your Lawless and Tyrannical Cruelty as the necessity of Affairs requires we should and we And our Allies
it to the Chancellor that it might be read which being done the Chancellor ask'd the States if they ratified it Which being affirm'd by them the King and Queen rose up and presented it to the Cardinal He having read the Petition delivered to them the Bull of his Legation which was also openly forthwith read that all might know that the Pope had given him Power to absolve them after which he made a Speech wherein he shewed them how acceptable Repentance was to God and how much the Holy Angels rejoyced in the Repentance of a Sinner and having given them many Examples of this he gave God great Thanks that inspired into them a Mind desirous of Amendment This being done he arose as did also the King and Queen and their Majesties kneeled down whilst he addressed himself to God imploring his Mercy and beseeching him to look mercifully upon the People and to forgive them their sins And saying that he was sent as Legate from the Pope Christ's Vicar to absolve them he lifted up and stretched out his Hand over them as their manner is blessing all of them and absolving them at the same time From thence they went to the Chappel where solemn Thanks were again offered up to God with much Musick and all the Signs of a Festival Joy according to the Custom of the Nation They who were intimately acquainted with Cardinal Pool and had enjoyed his Conversation and knew his Customs did much admire this Action and did expect something from him very different from what they found The 18th of December the Emperor from Brussels sent a Letter to all the Princes and States of the Empire the Contents of which were these The great Causes for which Albert Marquess of Brandenburg was about a year since out-law'd by the Imperial Chamber of Spire and declared guilty of High Treason have been clearly shewn to you by the Letters of that Chamber which were publickly set up and also by those Letters and Commands you afterwards received from us And whereas I am informed that he stubbornly continues in his said turbulent and seditious Counsels and doth certainly design new Troubles that he may yet further afflict and vex Germany which is our common Countrey and lastly because he has made his Retreat and found shelter and refuge with some I think it necessary to renew the former Sentence for the Welfare of our Countrey I do this the rather because I believe there is not one amongst you who does not love his Countrey and desire that care may be taken for the preservation of himself his Territories and the People and that the ill designs of the said Marquess and his Adherents may be hindred and retarded Wherefore upon the Penalties heretofore proposed I again command That no man presume in any wise to assist him or his Adherents with Help Counsel Entertainment Money Victual or Ammunition and Arms As also I will that every of you make it his greatest care that neither he nor his Adherents may be suffered to gather any Forces or list any Souldiers in the Territories belonging to any of you and that every of you do to the utmost of his Power hinder those within his Territories from running over to the said Marquess and punish all such as shall be found Breakers of this our Order and disobedient to our Commands This Letter was Printed and sent into all Parts The Twenty Ninth Day of December Ferdinand King of the Romans came to Ausburg on the account of the Diet I have so often already mentioned but finding none of the Princes or States there two days after he sent Letters and Envoys to the several Princes representing to them That seeing that there being many things of the greatest moment to be transacted in this Assembly he to his great loss and trouble had left his Territories and was come thither that he might consult with them That they might together consider of the necessary and safe Means of relieving the afflicted state of Germany He therefore earnestly desired that they would forthwith personally come thither and not send their Deputies for such was the greatness of the Cause now under consideration that it could not be well otherwise dispatched That the Emperor his Brother had given him a full Power and that he would not detain them longer than was necessary The Sixteenth of January the Parliament of England was dissolved Amongst many other Acts passed in this Parliament after the Repeal of the Act of Attainder against Cardinal Pool the Acts made in the times of the former Kings R. 2. H. 4. and H. 5. against Hereticks and in favour of the Bishops were revived The Papal Power was entirely restored and whatsoever Acts of Parliament had been made against the See of Rome within Twenty years last past were repealed Most thought the Crown of England would in this Parliament have been given to King Philip but there was nothing of that Nature done In the beginning of February there were Five condemned to be burnt for persisting in the Protestant Religion and refusing to return to the Roman Catholick Religion John Hooper Bishop of Gloucester John Bradford Lawrence Sanders Rowland Taylor a Lawyer and John Rogers all men of eminent Learning The last of these was burnt in London where he had been a Preacher the rest were sent into their respective Countries Gloucester Manchester Coventry and Hadley who all of them suffered Death with great Constancy The 30th of March Ferrar late Bishop of St. Davids was burnt also at Carmarthen by Morgan his Successor in that See. There were also three Ambassadors sent from England to Rome to thank the Pope for his great Clemency shewn to them and promise his Holiness an entire Obedience and Fidelity for the future The Fifth Day of February King Ferdinand opened the Diet at Ausburg though few of the Princes were then arrived there by a Speech wherein he told them That they very well knew for what grand and necessary Causes this Diet had been first appointed to be held at Ulm by the Emperor who had afterwards commanded it to be opened in this City the 13th of November That he for his part desired to have begun it that day pursuant to the Desire and Command of his Brother but that he was kept at home by the necessity of Affairs that so he might secure his Countries from the Insults of a near Enemy in case any Attempt had been made upon them and that he might so order his Affairs at home in this Interval that all things might go regularly forward during his Absence That after this forced Delay he arrived here the 29th of December in order to the holding this Diet. He said The Sum of the Emperor's Desire was That whatever tended to the Glory of God and the Tranquillity of the Empire might be established by the Council of all the Princes and States That as to the Diligence Study Labour and Care which the
the Lawful Succession is transmitted without any interruption The Cardinal of Lorraine had design'd in the former Reign to make a Speech in the Name of the three Estates which was then not opposed but now the Commons would not suffer it because contrary to the Ancient Usage And for that they had some things to object against the Cardinal himself Jean l' Ange an Advocate of the Parliament of Bourdeaux spoke for the Commons and remarked three great Faults in the Clergy Ignorance Covetousness and Excessive Luxury which had given Being to the new Errors and Scandal to the People That the Preaching of the Word of God which was the chief cause of the instituting Bishops was totally neglected and they thought it a shameful thing and beneath their Dignity And by their Example the Curates had learned to neglect their Duty too and had ordered the Mass to be sung by Illiterate and Unworthy Stipendaries That the excessive Pomp and Avarice of the Clergy who pretended by it to promote the Glory of God had raised an Envy and an hatred of them in the Minds of the People And therefore he desired that a Council might be assembled by the order of the King to remedy these Mischiefs After him James de Silty Comte de Roquefort made a Bold and an Elegant Oration in the Name of the Nobility and taxed the Clergy for invading the Rights and oppressing the People under Pretence of the Jurisdictions granted them by the Ancient Kings of France That therefore the King ought in the first place to take care to reform the Clergy and assign good Pensions to those that Preached the Word of God as had been done by many of his Ancestors which he named Jean Quintin le Bourguinon made a long tedious Speech in the behalf of the Clergy to shew I. That the Assembly of the three Estates were instituted for the providing for the Sacred Discipline II. That the King might understand the Complaints of his People and provide for the Necessities of his Kingdom by their Advice and not for the Reformation of the Church Which could not Err and which neither hath nor ever shall have the least Spot or Wrinkle but shall ever be Beautiful But then he ingenuously confest That the Sacred Discipline was very much declined from its Ancient Simplicity That therefore the Revivers of the the Ancient Heresies were not to be heard and all that had Meetings separate from the Catholicks were to be esteemed Favourers of Sectaries and to be punished Therefore he desired the King to compel all his Subjects within his Dominions to Live and Believe according to the Form prescribed by the Church That the Insolence of the Sectaries was no longer to be endured who despising the Authority of the Ancients and the Doctrine received by the Church would be thought alone to understand and imbrace the Gospel That this was the next step to a Rebellion and that they would shortly shake off the Yoak of the Civil Magistrate and with the same Boldness fight against their Prince that they now imployed against the Church if Care were not speedily taken He desired that all Commerce between them and the Catholicks might be forbidden and that they might be treated like Enemies and that those who were gone out of the Kingdom on the account of Religion might be banished That it was the King's Duty to draw the Civil Sword and put all those to Death who were infected with Heresie to defend the Clergy and restore the Elections of Bishops to the Chapters the want of which had caused great Damages to the Church That it had been observed That the very Year the Pope granted the King the Nomination of Bishops this Schism began and has ever since spread it self for in the 1517 Luther Zuinglius and Oecolampadius set up and Calvin followed them This Speech incensed the whole Assembly against him and especially the Protestants who published so many Libels and Satyrs against him that he soon after died of Shame and Grief He was no ill Man but was a better Decretalist than a Divine and had never well thought whether a Reformation were needfull or no But then it ought also to have been considered that he did not speak his own Single judgment but had his matter prescribed him by the Clergy for whom he spoke After some days the King Signified to the Bishops that they should prepare themselves for the Council which was now recall'd at Trent and the Judges and Prefects were commanded to discharge all that were Imprison'd for Religion only and leave all that were suspected the free injoyment of their Estates and Goods And it was made Capital to reproach or injure one the other on the Account of Religion After which the Assemly was Prorogued to the Month of May of the next Year There was in Piedmont a Valley called by the Name of Perosia and St. Martin Inhabited by about 15000 Souls whose Ancestors about 400 Years since had upon the Preaching of Waldus Speronus and Arnaldus made a defection from the Church of Rome and had at times been severely treated for it by the French under whom they had been but by the last Treaty were assigned to the Duke of Savoy This People about the Year 1555 had imbraced the Reformation and had suffered it to be publickly preached tho it was forbidden by the Council at Turin which the Year following sent one of its own Members to inquire after the Offenders and to punish them to whom the Inhabitants of this Valley delivered the Confesson of their Faith Declaring that they profess'd the Doctrin contained in the Old and New Testament and comprehended in the Apostles Creed and admitted the Sacraments Instituted by Christ the IV first Councils viz. those of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon and the Ten Commandments c. That they believed the Supreme civil Magistrates were Instituted by God and they were to be obeyed and that who soever resisted them fought against God. They said they had received this Doctrin from their Ancestors and that if they were in any error they were ready to receive instruction from the Word of God and would presently renounce any heretical or erroneous Doctrin which should be so shewen to them Thereupon a Solemn Dispute was in shew appointed concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass Auricular Confession Tradition Prayers and Oblations for the Dead and the Ceremonies of the Church and her Censures all which were rejected by them they alledging that they were humane Inventions and contrary to the Word of God. This Confession was sent by the Duke of Savoy to the King of France who about a year after return'd Answer That he had caused it to be Examin'd by his learned Divines who had all condemn'd it as Erroneous and contrary to true Religion and therefore the King commanded them to reject this Confession and to Submit to the Holy Church of Rome and if they did not do so their
as Honourable Terms as he could get The 28th of July the Articles were Signed the next day there came sixty Ships and 1800 men to the Relief of the place but it was too late so the English that remain'd were sent on Board the Fleet who had the misfortune to carry this Plague with them into England and within one year there died in London only 21530 persons of this Disease There was so much joy in France for the recovery of this small place that the Chancellor of France said openly That now the most malicious must needs confess That the granting Liberty of Conscience had at once delivered France from a most destructive Civil War united the Princes of the Blood Royal and enabled them to recover too what had been seized by their Enemies during the War and that chiefly by the help of the Protestants who before were so dreadful to them whilest they fought for their Religion The Queen to cut off all pretences to the Guardianship of the King by the advice of the Chancellor resolved to have him declared out of his Minority by the Parliament of Roan pursuant to a Constitution of Charles the Fifth King of France made in the year 1373 tho' he had then entered only into the Fourteenth year of his age which was accordingly done the 19th of August when he declared again That he was resolved not to suffer his Edicts to be disputed by his Subjects as had been done during his Minority and especially the last for the peace of Religion which he was resolved to make all his Subjects obey till it was otherwise setled by a Council This Decree met with some opposition from the Parliament of Paris which pretends to be the Supreme Court of that Kingdom and said they ought to have had the honour of declaring the King of Age and no other which was soon over-rul'd The desire I had to prosecute the Affairs of France and the Story of the Council of Trent has kept me from mentioning Scotland and its Affairs so that I am behind hand with that Kingdom two years In the beginning of the year 1562 Mary Queen of the Scots took her Progress towards the North At Sterling she was Petition'd by certain Commissioners of the Church for the Abolishing of the Mass and other Superstitious Rites of the Roman Religion the punishing Blasphemy the contempt of the Word of God the Profanation of the Sacraments the Violation of the Sabbath Adultery Fornication and other like Vices condemn'd by the Word of God but not punishable by the Laws of Scotland That all Suits for Divorce should be remitted to the Judgment of the Church or at least trusted to men of good knowledge and conversation and that Popish Church-men might be excluded from places in the Session and Council This Petition being read by the Queen she replied That she would do nothing to the prejudice of the Religion she professed and that she hoped before a year was expired to have the Mass and Catholick Profession restored through the whole Kingdom And so in a rage turn'd her back and left them In January 1563. John Hamilton Archbishop of St. Andrews was committed to the Castle of Edinburgh for saying and hearing Mass the Abbot also of Corsragnal and Prior of Withern had the same treatment and divers Priests and Monks were censured for the same cause The Scots thought by these Severities to terrifie the Queen into a compliance with their Religion And it is certain that in a Parliament held at Edinburgh in May this year she passed many Acts in favour of the Reformation However certain it is some of the Protestants made her an ill requital For in August following certain of the Queens Family remaining in the Palace of Edinburgh call'd Holy-Rood House and having a Priest to attend them and perform the Romish Service in the Chapel divers of the Inhabitants of Edinburgh out of curiosity or devotion resorting thither great offence was taken at it and the Preacher began to complain of it as a disorder Whereupon some of the Citizens went thither to see if it were so these being denied Admittance they forced the Gates of the Queens Palace took several of those who were there assembled and carried them to prison the Priest and some few others escaping by a Postern or Back-door This Uproar was very great and yet it was related to the best advantage to the Queen who was then out of Town she was very much incensed as she had good reason against these Zealots and swore she would shortly make them Examples of her Royal Indignation The Earls of Murray and Glencarne however wisely interposed and appeased her anger for the present Soon after John Knox was call'd before the Council and charged as the only Author of this Insolent Sedition and likewise for stirring up the people by his Circular Letters to Tumults whenever he thought fit He answered That he was never a Preacher of Rebellion nor loved to stir up Tumults contrariwise he always taught the People to obey their Magistrates and Princes in God. As to the Convocation of the Subjects he had received from the Church a Command to advertise his Brethren when he saw a necessity of their Meeting especially if he saw Religion to be in peril And had often desired to be discharged of that burthen but stil was refused Then speaking to the Queen with wonderful boldness He charged her in the name of Almighty God as she desired to escape his heavy wrath and indignation to forsake that Idolatrous Religion which she profess'd and by her power maintain'd against all the Statues of the Realm He was going on when the Earl of Morton then Chancellor of Scotland fearing the Queen might be yet more exasperated against all the Protestants of her Kingdom by his indiscreet zeal commanded him to hold his peace and go away After this things were carried more peaceably between the Queen and the Church the Earl of Murray making it his business to propound their Petitions to her and to return her Answers to them FINIS A TABLE OF THE Principal Matters Contained in this HISTORY A. ADiaphorists who Pag. 478 481. Adolph Count Schawenburg is made Archbishop of Cologne by the Pope 417. Enters upon the Resignation of the Archbishop 418. His first Mass 457. Makes his publick Entry into Cologne 499. He leaves Trent 543. He makes a League with the House of Burgundy 560. Adrian succeeds Leo X. 50. Sends a Legate to the Diet of Nuremberg 54. And a Breve to Frederick Ibid. Writes a long Letter to the States assembled at Nuremberg 55. And to Private Persons against Luther 56. As also to the Senate of Strasburg Ibid. An account of his Life Ibid. He is chosen Pope 57. Writes to the College of Cardinals Ibid. And to the People of Rome Ibid. Goes to Rome Ibid. His Instructions to the Diet at Nuremberg 58. Desires an Answer to them 60. Dies